which distributor ,should i buy?,electronic or points

[tomahawk]

looking for a distributor for my lotus twin cam engine,....but theres so many out there,....i drawn towards good old fashion points......yet a lot seem to be using electronic,aldons,power max,etc........are the electronic ones easy to set up ?are they reliable? hope someone can help me make my mind up.....lol

[Mick6186]

Hi,
I am currently rebuilding a +2 130/5. When I got the car it was fitted with a 48D distributor with points, which worked fine but the points were one piece, which are not heavy duty, so prone to points bounce at high revs, which is not good. I purchased a used 23D distributor that was in good condition, apart from stretched advance springs, which I have renewed. The distributor was fitted with a base plate with a long post so I fitted a set of heavy duty two piece points (Cooper 'S'), which make setting up the initial static advance easy, and at this point I also set up the carbs. At this point I found I was getting a little bit of timing scatter so I fitted Aldon ignitor ignition which eliminated the scatter. To me this indicated there was a very small amount of wear in the shaft or skew gear, which was being shown up by the pressure of the points on the shaft. If you are going to use points I would recommend making sure the base plate of the distributor can accept at two piece set as some new distributors advertised with points fitted have a base plate with a 'pip'.
Mick

[l10tus]

Using Points is like carrying an heavy handicap in a horse race, or a broken leg in a Marathon!

At the point where you are, bite the bullet, contact Aldon (or similar), and invest in a new distributor and electronic set up.

They are fitted for life, require little or no maintenance, give a much improved performance and unbelievable ease of starting ( as long as the rest of your engine is ok)

Aldon (or similar specialists) will ensure there's no play in the distributor shaft, if you go the 'refurbish an old one' route, they'll also check your advance curve, springs and weights, ensure your distributor cap, leads and rotor arm are good enough and set it up correctly.

The have a test bed machine to set things up before fitting to the engine, so unless you are familiar with this part of the rebuild equipment, leave it to them.

Cost permitting !

But in my opinion, money well spent!.

The original distributor can be rebuilt normally.

Not sure about the imported 'replacement distributors' - no experience there.

Several other classic cars can provide the correct distributor, but it depends on the engine specification, Webers, Strombergs, Sprint, SE or Standard set-up, etc,

Give them a call, they'll advise.

Hope this helps,

Regards,

Phil.

[rgh0]

Using Points is like carrying an heavy handicap in a horse race, or a broken leg in a Marathon!.................

Phil.

I have used optical lumenition in both my road Esprit and Plus 2 for over 30 years without problem. Its main advantage is the low level of maintenance required to keep it reliable. I have carried a spare set of points and condenser in both cars for all those years in case the electronics failed but never needed to use them.

I use points in my race Elan as it is more reliable and produces more power at high revs than the allowed electronic systems that must fit inside the distributor. In a race car pulling the dizzy to check the points regularly is not an issue. The electronic systems in the dizzy struggle with the heat and vibration in race engines and don't appear to produce more power at high revs than a proper points setup even when they do survive the heat and vibration as their current carrying capacity is less than a good points set.

cheers
Rohan

[tomahawk]

thanks for the replies,.....bit of for and against still,though im leaning towards electronic and all new,not a used one......has anyone usedthe powermaxx one?