Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Has anyone tried a 123 distributor with built in electronic ignition. (no offence to the purists). It has 16 different advance/curve settings. Looks quite an interesting bit of kit. http://www.123ignition.nl/

Doug

Hi I have installed the units on both my Abarth & Sprint. Very simple to install works a treat, however a fine screwdriver is required to change the advance curve. A little difficult in the Elan as a grub screw cover needs to be removed before you can make an adjustment. To be certain of getting the adjustment correct ie Clockwise to change from Std it is better to remove the front Webber. Units are very well made no moving parts. After using on the Abarth I changed the Elans luminition over to it. Enjoy

I am just in the process of fitting one to my Elan. Just waiting for a new set of HT leads to arrive.

As per the previous post, changing the curve is a bit fiddly but thsi is not something you would do often (usually only on install). The easiest way is to pull the dizzy out to do this. With the cap removed the dizzy will come out with out removing the carbs.

Very nice well made bit of kit. Currently 123 do not supply one with a Ford drive but there is a chap on ebay who does the modification.

I notice it comes with a bosch cap, so you would probably need a croosflow lead set... like a nice set of magnecor's!

Thanks for the feedback

Doug

Midlife wrote:I notice it comes with a bosch cap, so you would probably need a croosflow lead set... like a nice set of magnecor's!

Thanks for the feedback

Doug

That is just what I am waiting for to arrive through the post

Which of the 16 settings is best for the twin cam.

Or perhaps... How does one work out the best setting?

See http://www.steveww.org/index.php?id=145

Keep an eye on this page as I will post up the spreadsheet I used to compare curves as soon as I have the time.

steveww wrote:See http://www.steveww.org/index.php?id=145

Keep an eye on this page as I will post up the spreadsheet I used to compare curves as soon as I have the time.

Hello Steve, Hello All,
I'm thinking of getting a 123 for my own Stromberg Elan S4SE.

Some queries for Steve, please:
In your excellent advance curve spreadsheet, you show the 40953 as going from 12? at 1000 to 36? at 6500, but in my "period" Elan Workshop Manual it seems to show 14.6? at 1000 to 33? at 6500. Was the spec. changed? Which one is correct?
Did you try the F setting? Which setting did you settle down with in the end?

More general query:
What experiences with the 123 a year later, please?

Many thanks,
Tony

billwill wrote:Which of the 16 settings is best for the twin cam.

Or perhaps... How does one work out the best setting?

Get your car to the nearest rolling road specialist.

The original spec for the 40953 should start at 9 BTDC I was running a little more so my spreadsheet starts at 12 BTDC. Just change the figure around in the spreadsheet to see what you get.

I tried some different setting on the 123 check that "pinking" did not happen. At the moment I am happy with setting B. You can always tweak the settings by starting with a little more static advance.