CB's Black Box
Is it possible to combine performance and good mileage? It is with CB Performance's new easy-to-install electronic package.
BY BRUCE SIMURDA

The ignition timing on your air-cooled VW is one of those things where more is often better.... but then again, more can also be a terrible thing as well! Take for instance a performance-oriented engine - you want enough ignition timing to produce a good all-around powerband, but not so much to create detonation, which can damage the engine. Those seeking the best mileage possible can also benefit quite a bit from increased ignition timing at cruising speed, but that same amount of advance can destroy an engine under hard acceleration. But that's the nature of the standard mechanical advance distributor - it produces a straight-line timing curve that only takes into account an engine's speed! But the problem is, most engines respond well to different timing points depending on whether they're at idle, accelerating, or cruising. And of course, every engine has different requirements, depending on the camshaft specs, compression ratio, valve and port sizes, and carb size. So what the air-cooled VW engine really needs is a distributor that can change ignition timing depending on factors more than just engine speed - like throttle angle/load. A truly efficient distributor is one that can be custom tailored to any engine's unique needs. And that's where CB Performance's new Black Box Programmable Timing Module comes into play.

The Black Box isn't a distributor, but rather a controller that allows the conversion of an old school mechanical advance distributor to a programmable ignition system. This is accomplished by connecting it between your distributor and coil, which allows the box to then control all timing movement. In order to accomplish this, it is necessary to "lock-out" you distributor's mechanical advance mechanism so the box controls all timing movement (CB has come up with a simple washer install for Bosch distributors to accomplish this), as well as connect a vacuum line from the manifolds to the box. After these few installation steps, your distributor becomes completely programmable unit. There is an installation CD included with the Black Box with four base timing maps to choose from, two turbo and two naturally aspirated. According to CB, the Black Box has a 21x21 spark table, and is good for up to 10,000 rpm. It incorporates a 5 Bar Map sensor, allowing boosted timing control over 40 psi. It also has as internal low and high end rev limiter (nice feature!), and will connect to the ignition points, aftermarket ignition modules (such as Compufire and Pertronix, MSD distributors, and CB's Magnaspark Ready-To-Run and Magnetic Trigger distributors). Most aftermarket ignition boxes, such as the MSD 6AL, 7AL, Summit and Mallory are also compatible. This unit will work with either 4-, 6- and 8-cylinder engines, and the kit comes complete with a 7-foot Flying Lead harness (allowing a variety of mounting locations, such as behind the rear seat), easy-to-use Windows based software (XP, Vista, 7 or 8), and all electrical terminals and serial cables (some computers may require a USB to serial adapter).

"..proves that you can improve your mileage, and performance too!"

We had the opportunity to drive our '72 Bug to Farmersville, California where CB installed a Black Box on our basically stock 1600cc engine fitted with dual single-barrel Weber carbs, Bosch 009 distributor and 1.25:1 ratio rockers. On the way there we performed a mileage test, which netted a respectable 28.23mpg on Highway 99. After a half-hour installation, we spent about an hour testing a variety of different timing scenarios by feel, from 17° at idle to 47° cruising. We eventually found that our engine idled smoothly with 17° initial advance, cruised nicely with 45°, but liked a more common 30° at full throttle. With some 441 different timing settings in the spark table, depending on the engine's rpm and throttle position (vacuum), you can custom tailor the timing to match your engine. For example, with our settings we cruised along at 3,200 rpm (approx 70 mph) with the timing at 45° for maximum mileage, but the moment we stepped on the throttle the vacuum dropped, and timing dropped with it to 30° to prevent detonation - the best of both worlds! And the second mileage test, over the same highway and at the same gas stations, proved that the engine like it, as it improved to 31.66mpg, an increase of 3.43mpg, or 12.15%.

But mileage isn't the only story behind this interesting device, because with so much control over the timing you can run much more initial advance (as we said, ours was at 17°) for smoother idling and better off the line performance. We ran a few runs with and without the Black Box using our GTech Pro SS Performance Meter and found that with the standard mechanical advance, we averaged 18.95 e.t. in the quarter-mile at 69.2 mph, but with the Black Box, that time improved to 18.66 at 70.5 mph. These are not huge numbers, but for a nearly stock 1600cc engine, it's a nice gain, and proves that you can improve your mileage, and performance too!

SEE THE PRODUCT PAGE HERE:
http://www.cbperformance.com/ProductDetails.asp?Pr...