[Mgs] MGA Distributor Problems

Steven Trovato strovato at optonline.net
Mon Oct 1 08:20:33 MDT 2012


The car was running with the original distributor.  You can visually 
look at the distributors and see the relationship between the offset 
shaft end and the rotor.  If the new distributors are the same as the 
original, then you don't have to worry about mutant misassembled 
distributors.  If the car was running before (even with  intermittent 
lack of power) and you haven't removed the drive gear,  then you can 
pretty much figure it isn't installed backwards.  "Work out exactly 
what is wrong first, then correct that if you want to get it right" 
is the best advice.  Hopefully Robert will make sure he has the 
engine at TDC on the compression stroke and report back on the latest status.

-Steve

At 04:07 AM 10/1/2012, PaulHunt73 wrote:
>The two halves of the distributor shaft can also be reassembled 180 
>degrees out, and on an MGB at least the drive gear in the block can 
>be inserted in as many different positions as there are teeth.  You 
>can move the leads round the cap to 'correct' any of these, but it 
>seems to me that as two alternative distributors pointed in the 
>'wrong' direction it is the drive gear that is wrong and maybe the 
>distributor was altered to suit that, or the other way round.  But 
>OTOH you didn't say where the rotor *does* point on No.1 firing 
>stroke, on an MGB as you look down on the rotor this should be about 
>1 o'clock.  If that is where your two alternative distributors 
>point, but your original distributor points to 7 o'clock, then the 
>drive gear is correct, and the leads on your cap were moved round by 
>a PO to suit an incorrect distributor, so simply put the leads back 
>where they should be.
>
>Work out exactly what is wrong first, then correct that if you want 
>to get it right.  Or if your drive gear and/or distributor are wrong 
>and you want a quick bodge, simply move the leads round to suit.
>
>PaulH.


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