Practically Classics Forum

done a bit more testing this afternoon.
I have come to the decision that the electronic unit has passed on. everything else seems ok unpto and including the discharge from the coil to the dizzy cap. It is after that where the problem lies.
so, 2 solutions as i see it
1. speak with distributor doctor and buy a dizzy with standard points set up
2. speak with the distributor doctor and buy a dizzy with electronic ignition fitted.
must say, im leaning toward getting back to standard?

Thoughts?

Kev

Been looking at prices.
according to the manual, to get back to standard,I would need a lucas 25d4 distributor which is quite common.
Hopefully the Distributor doctor can help me source a decent/new unit.

Kev

I can't say without a picture, but perhaps the distributor is original and has only had the points removed to fit the trigger unit. That's certainly how the old Mobelec units worked - I had one in my Maxi (24D distributor) and Mother's Marina (45D dizzy) and all that changed was that I had to take the points and condenser out, put a thing over the cam and a sender in place of the points.

It may be worthwhile asking the Distributor Doctor if he can refurbish your distributor (new bushes, points, balance weight springs and so on) or sort out what parts you need - it could save a few pennies!

Its a purpose made unit, will post a picture when i get home. As long as it is the distributer i think it is, they seem to be quite reasonable in standard form anyways.. Heres hoping

Kev

I'd tend to look elsewhere unless you like lousy customer service and vastly inferior quality when compared to the same supplier's products from when they started out selling these things. Seriously, loads of restoration workshops are finding that the honeymoon is over and perhaps it's down to the cost of supplying decent gear compared to how much end users are willing to pay? I don't know but work uses a different source these days for Lucas ignition parts and even they aren't always able to keep up.
I'd stick with the distributor you have and if it's not too worn, then stick with points too but buy a generic 0.1-0.2uF/630wV teflon capacitor and fit that (perhaps externally to the baseplate), this will be the most reliable replacement for the original type of condenser.
What I'd do with any Lucas 4 cylinder distributor of the period (or bike magneto, V8 twin contact distributor, etc.) is use a Britpart ignition system. they're the exact same one that Simon BBC sells for rather more than the Tenner or thereabouts they cost at MM4x4. These come with a combined trigger ring/rotor arm and this eliminates the last potentially troublesome component (that arm) and allows for a fair amount of wear in the distributor spindle.

The kit is designed for the 43/45D4s but is quite simple to adapt to pretty much anything else, in the case of the 23 & 25Ds, the baseplate of the ignition amp has to be cut slightly to fit, the pin from the baseplate has to be cut flush and the distributor's position will be noticeably awry of its original setting for a given amount of static advance but this is all straighforward stuff and available from the R3W forum's technical section among other places in cyberspace.

Alternatively, a 43/45D can be swapped in for the 25D and the Britpart system fits directly to that without any additional work, same advice applies in this case re the substitution of a decent capacitor for anything n/o/s or repro. This I can supply from stock (mine, not those that belong to the LEA! ), you can then either fit externally or gouge out the original can and shove the new cap in there as the current supply of suitable caps are small enough to fit inside the original cans found in both 25D and 45D.

Your DLB105 is a 12V coil (technically they all are but I mean that it's meant to be used with no ballast resistor) so ditch the old ballast resistor and remove its extra wiring for simplicity's sake. I would also think that the reason it's got the ballast resistor in there may be something to do with the electronic ignition system fitted.

John

The unit fitted is an old, purpose made electronic unit so it cant be reverted back to points.
Point me in the direction of a decent supplier of the correct distributor with standard points set up please
I posted the unit reference a few posts up

Kev

apparently the lucas 45d4 will also fit, so just need a good reliable source

Kev

That 45D is for a mini so will have the wrong vacuum capsule and bob weights for the engine's advance curve, I'll write here what I was about to put in the reply to that post:
Can we see pictures of the existing distributor please? Depending upon how many of its original parts are gone, it may yet be the best option as these things are all available. I've seen mixed reviews about Accuspark stuff but the only reason we haven't used more of those is that they couldn't compete on price with the place that does our exchange units. A couple of Accuspark units have been used - one in a mini and the other in a Dolomite fitted with a Lucas side entry distributor in place of the Delco original. Neither of these have come back to haunt us so that's a 100% success rate!

If the original distributor has been modified beyond the point at which you could reclaim it with a baseplate and standard components, then I'd be inclined to go for a 25D as those appear to be easier to get with the correct capsule and weights.

Back shortly..

this is the distributor as fitted, it has 3 wires coming out of the bottom



kev

Right so: First off, find the distributor number from the body of the modified one that you have. This assumes that the mods were carried out to the correct type of distributor but the modifications might mean that any old thing could have been used. I suspect, however, that to keep the weights and vacuum capsule correct for the engine, the (or at the very least an) original will have been used, so look up the number and then see THIS SITE which tells you which weights, springs and vacuum capsule are needed, this information might be useful later.

25Ds tend not to wear so quickly as 45Ds, so there's a chance that buying a used one from some random eBay seller could be the most cost effective way forward. Unless the spindle is visibly loose in its bearings, then scatter will be manageable and not an issue so I'm now going to look for something suitable to use as a starting point, possibly with no further expense beyond a cap, a rotor arm and a contact set. I'd send you one of the capacitors that I mentioned earlier for nowt, I buy these by the pack of 100 and they're worth less than the charges paypal make!

So that was the way I was thinking but then, I found THIS.

I know nothing about the supplier and they seem to be shy about stating their prices on the site, but they do one for the Rootes 4 cylinder applications, 1961-1973, it's plug & play and if the one they send is like the one in the header, it would look rather good in your lovely fresh engine bay!


edited: Predecessor to the Lucas Opus range by the looks of that modified vacuum capsule arrangement, I had one of those in one of my A60-shaped cars and it developed a bit of an intermittent fault but this was simply caused by dodgy connections.