[TR] TR3A Distributor

[Anthony Rhodes]

----- Original Message ----- 
> Message: 9
> Date: Sun, 14 Oct 2007 21:56:26 +0000
> From: terryrs at comcast.net
> Subject: [TR] TR3A Distributor
> To: triumphs at Autox.Team.Net
> Message-ID:
> <101420072156.18626.4712908A000BC667000048C222165514069C9D979D9D0A9B at comcast.net>
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>
> Shipswrong Disease.
> My distributor is original to the car (it seems, anyway).  It's a DM2, and 
> the points that I've been able to get didn't fit right.  Also, the top and 
> bottom points plates were wildly loose in the center and wobbled badly. 
> So I sourced an upper/lower points plate for a 25D.
> Things started going squishy.
> For starters, the new lower plate did not have the pronged mounts for the 
> terminal bush (where the coil wire attaches). So to make things fit, I 
> took the old bottom plate off my DM2 dizzy, attached it to the new 25D top 
> plate, and was in business.
> When I took the plates off the dizzy, I inspected the centrifugal weights. 
> I should have known better.  If I hadn't seen the problem, it wouldn't 
> have existed, right?  One of the weights had the spring completely broken 
> and off.  Off I went to the hardware store, picked up some small light 
> action springs, and manufactured replacements that let the weights swing 
> easily, yet rebound.  At the same time, I cleaned and put tiny drops of 
> oil on the action pins.
> So two questions:
> After reassembly, I seem to lack power, and hear pinging I didn't hear 
> before on acceleration.  I seem to have two courses of action that may be 
> correct.  1) Do I simply advance the timing, thinking that the new top 
> plate from the 25D is more retarded than the DM2?  ...Or 2) Do I need to 
> order the $30 set of springs because the ones I manufactured don't have 
> the right physical properties?
> Terry Smith, '59 TR3A
> New Hampshire


Terry,

If it is pinging, then it is too ADVANCED!!!

If one spring was totally missing, then your mechanical advance is advancing 
earlier, but not more than the set maximum.  If you replaced the spring, 
then it will advance more slowly, but unless you used a very specific 
spring, you will have no idea WHAT the curve actually looks like.

Instead of spending $30 and only getting some new springs, send it out for a 
rebuild.  It sounds as if it is time.  After that, you can rest assured that 
everything is in spec.

-Tony