Well, some of many of you have read of my exploits in getting my '78
Spitfire back on the road after the 4+ year engine rebuild oddysey. After
many stops and starts, I actually had it running very well on a borrowed
points distributor (vice the Crane electonic ignition w/ magnetic trigger).
After having sorted out most of my carburation issues, I decided to
reinstall the electronic dist and see what happened. I got it restarted,
but it needed more tweaking than I expected. But still, it seemed to be
running fairly well, and having had a lesson in SU carb set-up from my Dad,
I thought that resetting the carbs again would be no big deal.
Went out yesterday and started tinkering. Got it pretty close, but it
always wanted to stall out and die rather than settle in to a nice smooth
idle. Unless the idle were up around 1800-2000 rpm. Anything less than
that and it would (eventually) die. Also, I couldn't find a balance between
idle speed and timing. If I retarded the timing too much, the car died, so
I would bump up the idle 1/8 - 1/4 turn. Then it idled to fast and the
timing was too far advanced (around 20 BTDC), maybe not for that rpm, but
certainly for an idle. If I dropped the idle, it died, so I would have to
advance the timing to 16-20 BTDC just to keep it running, and then the
engine speed would be up again. Oy! Just a vicious cycle.
Anyway, my Dad showed up last night with his XK-120 to leave at my house for
a month or so. As we were driving the Spit over to its temporary garage
location, it was running *VERY* rough - like riding a bucking bronco. Dad
was listening from behind and seems convinced that I still have a problem in
the electronic ignition. I'm inclined to agree.
So I've decided to quit wasting my time with this electronic ignition crap
and look for a points distributor that I can buy, rather than just borrow
from a way-too-generous friend (who never complained, btw, about how long I
was keeping his dist.).
Here's the important questions:
Does anyone out there have an old Spit points-type dist that they'd be
willing to part with?
Are there any sources for rebuilt and all set up (i.e. "plug 'n' play")
dists?
What should I expect to pay for something like that?
I have a couple of the Crane electronic ignition systems which I'd be happy
to use as (full? partial?) trade. If noone's interested in that, they'll go
on e-bay, with full disclaimer that I couldn't make them work, so no
guarantees... etc. etc.
Thanks,
George P.
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