martinbrowning wrote:tonycharente wrote:I have some (good) experience of the "123" version with the Ford drive, but they are in another price bracket altogether.
Tony - which advance curve settings did you use with the 123 distributor? I have one that I am considering fitting to my dellorto big valve engine.
Baggy - my apologies for stealing the thread.
Kind regards,
Martin B
Hello Martin,
Simple question - but complicated answer...
First complioaction: The 123's come with a different set of 16 settings according to model - i.e. a 123 sold for a mini has a different set than one sold for an MGB and a different set than their generic one... The ones I have experience of were their generic model, ref 123 GB-4, but modified with the Ford drive. They may do now (that's a question...) but at the time 123 did not sell a version with the Ford drive.
Second complication: The advance curves chosen by Lotus in period varied between the different Twin-Cam engines, and in particular between Standard v. S/E + Sprint, but also Webers v Strombergs - see the workshop manual... So it would be interesting to know (Baggy please...) which version of Twin-Cam the Powermax one is set up for if not user adjustable.
My experience was as follows. I initially bought one for a friend with an S4 Elan on Webers, but tried it on my own Elan (S4SE on Strombergs) to see if it was any improvement over my existing dizzy (23D.4 / curve 40953 plus Lumenition). The 123 settings that most closely matched the Lotus curve were 7, B and F, and I tried all of these. To be honest I couldn't really tell much difference (tested by driving the car up and down the road - no rolling road...). And as none of them actually improved on my existing set up I didn't buy one for myself, given the cost.
Later on I had two French friends with an Elan S4 and an S130 for whom I purchased 123's as they both needed to replace their existing dizzies. I've an idea they both ended up on the F setting, but again by simple trial and error, nothing scientific. Both are happy with their purchase.
Sorry this is a bit vague, but hope it helps a little.
Baggy - sorry to have pinched your topic - but it does show the need to ask them for which Twin-Cam theirs is set up up for if not user adjustable - take a look at the Workshop Manual first!
Cheers
Tony