What always frustrates me Norm is there are lots of people out there who claim to have done these electronic conversions, but they never seem to offer any advice or support to others. Also I see only a few promotional videos on YouTube about ignition conversion but they rarely show the engine actually being started and running after making the conversion. Only one video showed sparking after the conversion but the engine would not start. In that case the timing had to be altered on the engine to cater for the new device. Many of the videos are just mock ups to show how to install the modules. Others simply show sparking, but they don't actually show the engine working. This has led me to be very suspicious of these newfangled electronic ignition modules.
I have really only had success to date with 70s era Briggs engines that have flywheels with the long series of magnets. You can put the newer types of coils which have an ignition sensor built in and they will work perfectly. I am currently about to try a Stens ignition module on a Briggs but I am far from being hopeful that it will work. My past experience with these modules on Kirby Lauson engines has been extremely poor. The timing was in all cases impaired badly, to the point that it was impossible to attempt a start without getting a severe backfire which was often so extreme it would instantly strip off the keyway. In one case the misfire broke the armature on the magneto and also badly damaged the shaft. I give these ignition modules a big thumbs down for use on 60s and 70s Kirby Lauson and Kirby Tecumseh engines. My advice, they won't work on those engines, so don't bother trying. If anything they will only succeed in destroying them. Briggs are similar engines to Tecumseh, so I am rather skeptical and cautious. I bet my latest experiment will also end in a dramatic misfire and a broken keyway!
Basically I am beginning to wonder if the whole idea of these electronic modules being a "cure all" for replacing a points ignition system is just a lot of "smoke and mirrors".
But I hope somebody can answer your question about Powertorque. I have heard of people doing it. Once again I say "heard". I have never actually seen the engines working as claimed.
I also get the impression these ignition modules work better on 2-stroke engines than 4-stroke, generally speaking. But the makers claim that they will work on any engine, 2-stroke or 4-stroke, providing it has only 2 magnets on the flywheel and either a 2 or 3 armature coil. Well I have tried them on the old Kirby 4-strokes matching those requirements, but have never been able to get them to work. In all cases on 4 stroke Kirby engines I found the sparking to be erratic and so the timing was seriously effected.
