Maggie Ignition Harness for Surefly

[52Yankee]

Hello all! I’m about to install Surefly Magneto and have read great reviews about the Maggie Ignition Harness but the link on most forum posts is no longer valid. Did the website change or did the company go belly up? I plan to try to call whatever number I can find tomorrow. 

Thanks!

[Ragsf15e]

1 hour ago, 52Yankee said:

Hello all! I’m about to install Surefly Magneto and have read great reviews about the Maggie Ignition Harness but the link on most forum posts is no longer valid. Did the website change or did the company go belly up? I plan to try to call whatever number I can find tomorrow. 

Thanks!

Try this.  I think they changed websites/distribution channels, but I bought one a year ago and they were still good.  take the time to see exactly which mag feeds which top/bottom on each cylinder because there’s apparently a couple ways to do that and it won’t fit if you’re try to run to the wrong plug.
 

https://www.maggieignitionsystems.com/about-3

[52Yankee]

Perfect! That link worked, thanks!

[AdamJD]

FYI - had this done a few months ago.  New harness for a Surefly and Bendix mag combination.  Maggie Ignition was responsive and quick to ship.  No issues.  Christine at MI was super helpful.

[Danb]

I received, my Maggie harness overnight they are quite responsive 
 

[Nico1]

Got my Maggie harness a few years ago. They were awesome, super responsive and helpful. No problems with it so far. 

[OneSaltyItalian]

FYI - had this done a few months ago.  New harness for a Surefly and Bendix mag combination.  Maggie Ignition was responsive and quick to ship.  No issues.  Christine at MI was super helpful.

Did you just replace the left side? How was removing the SoS? Also, how long did it take total to replace?

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[AdamJD]

2 hours ago, OneSaltyItalian said:

Did you just replace the left side? How was removing the SoS? Also, how long did it take total to replace?

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Replaced both sides.  Don't have SoS - my previous left mag was impulse.  Two shop hours to replace the harness.  

[Ragsf15e]

15 hours ago, OneSaltyItalian said:

Did you just replace the left side? How was removing the SoS? Also, how long did it take total to replace?

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk
 

My sos was a little tricky to remove as I had to get a wrench on the nuts up under the instrument panel while my IA tuned the bolts in the engine compartment.  Other than that and capping the wires, easy.

[OneSaltyItalian]

1 hour ago, Ragsf15e said:

My sos was a little tricky to remove as I had to get a wrench on the nuts up under the instrument panel while my IA tuned the bolts in the engine compartment.  Other than that and capping the wires, easy.

Awesome. How about hooking up to the battery? Where'd you make that happen?  I have the battery in the rear compartment so I figured that's going to require some Mooney Yoga as Scott puts it. 

[Ragsf15e]

1 hour ago, OneSaltyItalian said:

Awesome. How about hooking up to the battery? Where'd you make that happen?  I have the battery in the rear compartment so I figured that's going to require some Mooney Yoga as Scott puts it. 

Yeah definitely.  Removed most of the interior and strung the wiring for the Surefly back to the battery along the pilot side.  Passed it through the firewall through one of the holes freed up by the sos.  Sf has to connect to the battery or hot side of battery solenoid, so it’s connected near the battery.

[OneSaltyItalian]

On 12/7/2023 at 4:34 PM, Ragsf15e said:

Yeah definitely.  Removed most of the interior and strung the wiring for the Surefly back to the battery along the pilot side.  Passed it through the firewall through one of the holes freed up by the sos.  Sf has to connect to the battery or hot side of battery solenoid, so it’s connected near the battery.

Awesome.  I shared all this with my A&P.  We're looking at doing it in January.  Was there any extra items you needed on hand aside from what came in the box with the SureFly system and harness?  Trying to coordinate now to make sure we have everything on hand before diving in during a weekend.  Thanks for the help so far!

[Ragsf15e]

46 minutes ago, OneSaltyItalian said:

Awesome.  I shared all this with my A&P.  We're looking at doing it in January.  Was there any extra items you needed on hand aside from what came in the box with the SureFly system and harness?  Trying to coordinate now to make sure we have everything on hand before diving in during a weekend.  Thanks for the help so far!

We put in a connection kit for a battery minder at the same time. It was nice to have everything open to route the connection into the baggage compartment.

[47U]

3 hours ago, OneSaltyItalian said:

Was there any extra items you needed on hand aside from what came in the box with the SureFly system and harness?

Some SureFly installations have had trouble with timing to the engine.  There’s an alternate drive gear with the teeth indexed a half tooth off.  An eighth inch more travel in the stud mounting slots would have been enough for me.  I was good, until I torqued the nuts.  My install was several years ago, they may have expanded the slot… not sure.  

[OneSaltyItalian]

Some SureFly installations have had trouble with timing to the engine.  There’s an alternate drive gear with the teeth indexed a half tooth off.  An eighth inch more travel in the stud mounting slots would have been enough for me.  I was good, until I torqued the nuts.  My install was several years ago, they may have expanded the slot… not sure.  

Hmmm okay good note. Do you have a part number in case we need to do that?

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[47U]

1 hour ago, OneSaltyItalian said:

Do you have a part number in case we need to do that?

There was a thread (I thought) that listed the part number for the alternate gear… I did read in one post that SureFly has the alternate gear available, if needed.  Pricey, though.  A couple years ago it was in the .35 amu range, now I think it’s closer to .5 amu.  If you contact SureFly, they should have the details.  

If you need the alternate gear it might be cheaper to take your gear to a machine shop and have them cut a second keyway, 180 degrees opposite the existing keyway.  The SureFly install doc has reference to a drive gear with two keyways, so the modification shouldn’t invalidate the airworthiness… with your A&P/IA approval, of course.

[52Yankee]

Pirep after install. In total, I replaced both ignition harnesses, the old ones were pretty chewed up. I didn’t end up going with Maggie harness due to shipping time; I wanted to have it installed this weekend. I just replaced the old champion slick harness with new red champion slick harness. It was an incredibly easy install. Running the wire was probably the most time intensive, but I was able to just remove trim pieces without having to remove most of the interior. Timing it was also seamless. I was having extreme issues trying to start the airplane, hot or cold, which is why I decided to go ahead and invest in Surefly. I’d say 4-5 hours of labor, maybe less. After finishing the install I held my breath as I went to crank it for the first time and it fired up on one turn of prop! This plane has never done that. I messed around and did a mag check, no issues. I shut it down and let it sit for 20 minutes and cranked it again, and within one turn the engine was roaring. I am extremely happy. Haven’t flown it yet, ran out of time (had to hurry home for Dallas - Philly game; GO COWBOYS!). For me it was just worth it to be able to start the plane with confidence. If it stays functioning properly, it is a massive improvement.

[Ragsf15e]

53 minutes ago, 52Yankee said:

Pirep after install. In total, I replaced both ignition harnesses, the old ones were pretty chewed up. I didn’t end up going with Maggie harness due to shipping time; I wanted to have it installed this weekend. I just replaced the old champion slick harness with new red champion slick harness. It was an incredibly easy install. Running the wire was probably the most time intensive, but I was able to just remove trim pieces without having to remove most of the interior. Timing it was also seamless. I was having extreme issues trying to start the airplane, hot or cold, which is why I decided to go ahead and invest in Surefly. I’d say 4-5 hours of labor, maybe less. After finishing the install I held my breath as I went to crank it for the first time and it fired up on one turn of prop! This plane has never done that. I messed around and did a mag check, no issues. I shut it down and let it sit for 20 minutes and cranked it again, and within one turn the engine was roaring. I am extremely happy. Haven’t flown it yet, ran out of time (had to hurry home for Dallas - Philly game; GO COWBOYS!). For me it was just worth it to be able to start the plane with confidence. If it stays functioning properly, it is a massive improvement.

Did you use the timing advance?

[52Yankee]

Yeah, we set it to 20 per the plate on IO 360 and programmed it for variable using manifold pressure. I’m curious to see how performance is affected like I’ve read in other threads above 7-8K. I doubt it’ll affect me much here in central but I do plan on taking a couple trips west next year. 

[Ragsf15e]

4 hours ago, 52Yankee said:

Yeah, we set it to 20 per the plate on IO 360 and programmed it for variable using manifold pressure. I’m curious to see how performance is affected like I’ve read in other threads above 7-8K. I doubt it’ll affect me much here in central but I do plan on taking a couple trips west next year. 

Yes, you probably won’t notice it much unless you do a mag check at cruise altitude above ~7,000’. If you’re running peak or leaner it might get your attention as the SF is basically doing all the work and switching to the mag it will get rough and you’ll see your speed dropping off(depending on how lean or high you were).  You can tell the advance is doing something.