New distributor for Elan Sprint

[John Larkin]

Mt 1973 Elan Sprint that I acquired last June conked out repeatedly after about twenty minutes driving. The problem seemed to be an ignition circuit fault. I replaced all the usual suspects (plugs, low tension feed, coil, HT leads, distributor cap, rotor arm, points (three sets), condenser (two)) and the car still died after twenty minutes driving. On one occasion the AA man pointed out that the distributor cap was out of position, but not loose; he relocated it correctly and VROOM the engine ran! He followed me in the direction of home and refuge and behold the car conked again after about four miles! The cap had moved! Fixed it, and on our way again. Another two miles ..... can you guess? Yeah, cap moved again.

I took out the distributor and it turned out to be a 1966 unit from a Morris Monor van --- it is the same Lucas type as fitted to the Elan, at least on the outside. The innards had been modified (signs of welding and grinding). Is there any other make of car on this planet that gets messed about as much as Lotuses seem to? Every Lotus that I have ever owned (all secondhand) seemed to have been bodger magnets.

I have just installed a new Bosch distributor and electronic ignition from H&H Ignition and the car started first time (am I lucky or a genius?).

Fingers crossed for the next few days!


John Larkin

[gjz30075]

Congrats on finding the problem! Don't you mean the distributor moved, not really just the cap? The cap is 'keyed' to the distributor body and usually the clamp that holds it in place gets bent and cracked and can no longer squeeze the distributor body. Or maybe the gear is not properly keyed to the shaft? Either way, sounds like the Bosch unit might do the job.

Greg Z
'72 Sprint

[John Larkin]

The CAP moved; one clip stayed in its groove, and the other was being forced out by the cap lifting --- as if the cap was being pushed up from inside the distributor. I'm guessing that it must have been caused by vibration. I would never have believed it if I had not seen it.

John Larkin.