Brian Evans wrote:
>
> Has anyone got actual experience running race engines with locked
>distributors?
>
> I know people say you can do it with no problems, but I wonder what happens
> when you do this as far as idle, hot starts, and cold starts are concerned.
> Any ideas? The engine I have is a 1865cc 120E ford based engine. It uses a
> reverse rotation distributor, which is essentially impossible to find, and
> so I thought I'd try the locked, no advance thing.
>
> Thanks, Brian
It is fairly common to race with a completely locked distributor. Mine
is that way but I only run in the neighborhood of 30 deg. Folks with
Lucas distributors, which tend to wear the bushings and other innards
resulting in timing 'splatter", often circumvent the problem by removing
the vacuum advance, locking the centrifugal advance, and installing an
electronic system.
Yes, it doesn't give any advance curve, but if you are always turning
the engine 4000 rpm and above, many advance curves are all done by then
anyway, and the ones that aren't usually only give another 3 deg or so
above 4000.
As for starting, yes, it makes it more difficult, and especially when
the engine is hot. Sooo.. if you spin out and kill the engine (never in
Vintage Racing, of course), you may be dead in the water. HOWEVER, there
is a really simple solution for this. Simply use the switches in the
right sequence. That is, have the electric fuel pump (if you have one)
on one switch, the ignition on a second switch, and a starter button. To
start, turn on the fuel pump, hit the starter button, let it spin over,
and then turn on the ignition. Works like a charm.
The only thing that's hard about it is that when you spin and kill the
engine, and you're scared, flustered, and sure the entire world is
watching, you have to remember to turn off the ignition switch before
hitting the starter button. Not that I know from experience, or anything
like that, but that's what people tell me...
--
uncle jack
TR4 Rallye Replica vintage racer
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