Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

pimkeirle wrote:Does anyone have any experience of the multitude of cheap distributors fitted with electronic ignition that are now available at sometimes ridiculously low prices. I believe Accuspark do one for as little as ?45. Would I be better spending a lot more on something like a 123 distributor. My car is a 1973 plus 2 S 130/5, engine in good order and head recently rebuilt.

I had an accuspark distributor and the advance curve was rubbish. Their comment was that the dizzie was designed for ANY high perforance 4 cylinder engine. Rubbish. There is a thread on it somewhere.

Why spend (and waste) money on electronic units that promise the world and often let you down? I have had the dizzies on both of my cars rebuilt by Distributor Doctor - no problems.

Martin B

I gave up on modern washing machines years ago, taking laundry to the river and scrubbing it on the rocks is 100% reliable.

This wasn't you was it?

alan.barker wrote:Grizzly,
do you think parts from the "Distributer Doctor" are any good

Couldn't tell you i've never used them........ as i said once i sacked off the accuspark i went to Luminition and i've not had a problem with the Ignition module since.

I bought most of my ignition from Tim Green (they are local to me so i can pick up and chat to them) http://www.gsparkplug.com/ they haven't sold me a dud upto now.

69S4 wrote:This wasn't you was it?

Senegal and Mali .jpg

AHA! You spotted my yellow jumpsuit .

Grizzly wrote:

alan.barker wrote:Grizzly,
do you think parts from the "Distributer Doctor" are any good

Couldn't tell you i've never used them........ as i said once i sacked off the accuspark i went to Luminition and i've not had a problem with the Ignition module since.

I bought most of my ignition from Tim Green (they are local to me so i can pick up and chat to them) http://www.gsparkplug.com/ they haven't sold me a dud upto now.

Ah Luminition,
the first time i saw one of them was on a friends 1973 +2S130/5 about 40 years ago He had a big problem with it and threw it in the bin . He went back to points + condenser
Anyway what's inside a Condenser, does someone know
Alan

Very interesting stories guys, I didn?t mention earlier that my brother had pertronics module for 25 years so I bought complete setup from them ( distributor plus Leads ) but 3 different modules lasted about 10 minutes of running time each, so I sent it all back at great postage cost and bought Accuspark as stated 6 years ago. I do carry the original Lucas dissy in the boot/ trunk??
Ian

There is also "Swiftune : cooper S type points ?9.60 incl vat and external Condenser competition ?30.24 incl vat
Alan

The 123 distributors offer a selection of advance curves, so could be useful to set up the car. I can't find any reliability issues from a quick look on line, so it might make sense as it includes everything in one package with a new distributor. Has anyone any experience of the 123 on an Elan?

Gray wrote:The 123 distributors offer a selection of advance curves, so could be useful to set up the car. I can't find any reliability issues from a quick look on line, so it might make sense as it includes everything in one package with a new distributor. Has anyone any experience of the 123 on an Elan?

there are previous threads dealing with 123, including

lotus-electrical-f38/123-ignition-tune-t25977.html?hilit=distributor

I believe 123 has since modified their setup a bit, replacing (or offering as an alternative option?) the usb cable for control of the tunable version a bluetooth link (possibly with other minors mods)

I've been very happy with mine, both as a dizzy and as a tuning tool, but must admint I have not used the car a hole lot (a couple dozen hours?).

It's curious to me how people who have had bad experiences with a single product (Accuspark seems to be a real winner in this thread) are perfectly willing on that basis to discard the technology used in all new cars (with variations.)

So, how many of you Luddites have retrofitted points to your daily drivers?

In the 40+ years since points became obsolete, I've had exactly one failure. Yes, it was a very cold winter day when the ignitor on my '83 Toyota Corolla failed and left me walking (modern cars have one per cylinder). But the garage it failed near had it working by the end of the day.

As far as the Pertronix in my Europa, no issues. You do need to match the coil per the included instructions.

Wish I could say everything else in life is as reliable.

I fitted a Pertronix complete distributor after reading in Miles Wilkins book that the original Lucas had the incorrect advance curve for a modified engine (mine is modified). I couldn't see the point in just fitting a kit to the existing 50+ year old Lucas unit and the complete Pertronix distributor was $187. It transformed the way the car runs-for the better.

It looks like "hall effect" to me like the "simonbloc" i fitted inside the Lucas dissy on my Elan Sprint.
But more expensive
Alan

I've used a 123-TUNE in my 105 Alfa with great results - it's a really good system, and has lasted for several years of road and track use with no problems.

The TUNE has the advantage that you can program in any curve you want, so if you're building a motor you can set the curve the engine builder recommends, or tweak the curve on a dyno.