Distributor advice? Powerspark or NOS.

[Sloppy 2000]

Hi,

I think my distributor is a bit iffy. It is a standard lucas. I know I can get a NOS lucas one (£45). I have a powerspark Electronic ignition module in my old lucas one. It ran poor on points and is not better with the powerspark module. A friend said he reproofed the cam, it worked a bit and it is starting to come back. So I am assuming it is the distributor. It has a decent coil on and has not done any real mileage. So it is not that as that made no difference.

Is a new powerspark distributor the way to go or a NOS distributor and use the powerspark Elec Ignition module, or just go back to points and this new old stock distributor even. I realise there are more expensive elec ignition distributors, which are out of my reach.

I haven't bought anything just yet, but just wondered what you thought. I would need some seals I think for a NOS distributor as they are likely to be perished. But they would be cheap enough.

By the way, nice new clean plugs, carbs set up and balanced and new distributor leads.

Jeff

mk1 2000 estate.

[johnnydog]

Hi Jeff,
Not heard from you for quite a while!
I have always stuck with points on all my Triumphs, and never fitted electronic ignition and not had any problems, although many people have done and never gone back to points. Some owners have had problems and removed the electronic ignition going back to points!
Personally, I would first check that the distributor you have is actually the correct one for your engine. Due to the age of our cars, it could be that it has been replaced previously with the wrong one. Whilst many Lucas 25D's look the same, they aren't - they can have different springs and weights that can affect the advance curve and the performance and running of the engine. Different vacuum advance can alter the degrees of advance under acceleration resulting in poor running, pinking or flat acceleration . The degrees of advance of the vacuum advance are stamped into the trumpet part although they can be difficult to see on older units that may have rusted a little. The identifying number of the distributor is stamped on the side of the body. Chris Witor lists all the various distributors on his website.
Don't ask me how I know - bitter experience with my Royal Blue Mk1 which took me a while to figure out, but when the correct distributor was fitted, it transformed the performance of the car.

[Alec]

Hello Jeff,

I endorse all that Johnny says.

However it's worth a quick check to see if the cam spindle is free on the distributor drive spindle, i.e. that the mechanical advance is actually working?
That mechanism should be lubricated periodically, but particularly when electronic kits are fitted the distributor tends to be neglected thereafter.
I too run my car on points as I found over the years that they require little maintenance and maintain tune for long periods. I would just check and adjust if required when serviceing the car.

Alec

[Sloppy 2000]

Hi,

Yes, Hi Johny and Alec. Have been away with things for a while but I am back now and still have her; the White Triumph 2000 estate. She runs, has her issues. I'm a better friend to her than she is to me!

I will see what I have on there.

The engine in mine is not the original. It is an MC engine I think, which Johny told me breathed better and was not such a bad thing. So, as this is a rarer engine (I think?), it is not the original according to logbook, however, period as it was used in late Mk1s (unless you know some more which would be welcome) I may have to do some investigating to find out whether the engine actually has the right distributor, which might be something someone may know about? Might be out of a MB?

It's possible someone put a new engine and put the ancillaries from the old one on. It runs far better now the cam has been reprofiled about 100 miles ago by a friend who runs his own business for classic cars. He decided after seeing a bit of black on one of the distributor cap contacts that this would be it. It changed the car. Ran with no lumps. ticked over fine. The tick over has started to waver occasionally now. He had a Triumph 2000 mk1 years ago, which I think he did a bit of racing in. His name is James Boreham. You may know him. One thing thats come to mind (and yours probably), is to just check the distributor cap (which is what I should be doing before posting anything any way shouldn't I).

The car is up at my mums now and with all this lockdown, I can't check all this just yet so I will update you soon.

As for the power spark ones. They therefore might not be compatible across the 2000 range perhaps? There are a lot of electronic ignition distributors on the market, wouldn't want to buy one without a little more information about MC engine.

This is NOS one I have seen on ebay sssh for now eh.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LUCAS-41450- ... SwKOZcQb6x

They have listed it as Triumph 2000, it it is a 45d6. It gives a serial number no relation to CW listings.


Does anyone know much about MC engines. Is there any data out there?

I have found this:

https://club.triumph.org.uk/menu/5742/item/324525/view

I'll have a search through register posts and see if there is anything.

Jeff

[johnnydog]

The distributor for your Mk1 should be a 25D or a 25D6 - 45D6 were fitted to later Mk2 cars.
On a Mk1 - for high compression engines in the UK, upto 1966, chass. no 60,000, the ID no stamped in the body of the distributor should be 40967A (Triumph part no. 210638)
After 1966 from chass no. 60,001, the ID no. should be 41166A (Triumph part no. 213707)
As yours is a late MC engine, the distributor should be 41166A.
The vacuum advance figures stamped in the trumpet part should be the same for both - 5 13 10.
Mk2 25D distributors, although they looked the same, to chass no. 50,000 were ID no. 41314A and from 50,001 41378A, and the vacuum advance figures were also different - 2 7 10 and 5 10 6 respectively.
Incidentally, some distributors had a B suffix after the number, instead of an A. I think the spec's were the same - it's the actual ID no that is the important bit to get correct.
Having said all this, that doesn't guarantee the innards of different distributors haven't been swapped, but at least it's a reasonable starting point!

[johnnydog]

https://club.triumph.org.uk/menu/5742/item/324525/view

Relative to the discussion on this link - I'm sticking to my guns!! I have owned and driven several late Mk1's with late MC engines, and based on my experiences having owned both MB and MC engines, MC's all seem to rev better, more smoothly and they also pull better than any MB engined car I've driven. Just going off my experiences whilst driving them! My Royal Blue Mk1 has its original MC engine in totally standard form, and it has plenty of torque, and it pulls 'like a train'!

[Sloppy 2000]

Johnny,

Wow. In all my life I have not ever had anyone give me, to any question an answer as well as that.
I have everything I need to know about this and I will let you know how I get on.

Re the MC engine. Not driving any other. I would not know, but you do, and I am happy with that. I put the link in as this was all I could find on it. Not countering your view on breathing or anything. I think you would know better than any one having driven them all. Perhaps you could do a piece in the magazine on MC engines. If you haven't already.

Now that you have said all this, I am well chuffed I have an MC. Thanks for all this and I will let you know how I get on with it.

If you know where I can get hold of a MK1 choke cable that doesn't need a peg to stop it going back in, let me know. £1,000,000 cash waiting.

From what you say the one on ebay is not any use

Jeff

[david_lall]

For something like 20-years I've used the Magnetronic ignition in 2 cars covering a combined mileage of around 200,000 miles.

It ticks all the boxes in terms of authentic looks, it's a cheap reliable system and most importantly it guarantees the dwell angle never changes which is the ultimate problem with points.

If you are after a perfectly tuned engine, especially for twin carbs or PI then I don't see any sense at all in using traditional points.

[johnnydog]

Johnny,

Wow. In all my life I have not ever had anyone give me, to any question an answer as well as that.
I have everything I need to know about this and I will let you know how I get on.

Jeff

Thanks for the compliment Jeff!
If I ever have an issue with anything that I need to resolve that is a minefield of information, I tend to keep a paper record of the part numbers and any references should I ever need the info again, rather than having to trawl the internet or all the different parts books all over again.
In this case, because I had problems with my Royal Blue Mk1 when I was recommissioning it in 2013, and I inadvertently fitted a replacement but incorrect distributor, which resulted in excessive pinking under minimal throttle, but when I realised my mistake, I made a record of the relevant distributors id's, part numbers and advance curves etc etc. to help in finding the correct replacement. I found a good used spare of the exact correct spec, and all has been good since.
Seeing as I have all the this info easily to hand, I might as well share it.....!

[johnnydog]

Johnny,

If you know where I can get hold of a MK1 choke cable that doesn't need a peg to stop it going back in, let me know. £1,000,000 cash waiting.

Jeff

I have some original good used Mk1 choke cables. I will check what I have and let you know.
You can have two for that price Jeff...