Distributor rebuild and Distributor Caps

[JJ66]

Hi All, This probably isn't news to most of you but thought I should share a recent finding. I have been sorting out my ignition on my Elan +2 130/5, it has the 23D4 distributor and at 100k miles I figured it needed some TLC. There was backlash in the bob weights and also noticeable play in the central shaft. I sent the distributor to Martin Jay at 'Distributor Doctor' and he has fully rebuilt it. What a difference!!!! Tick over beforehand was at best lumpy, at worst horrible, but now it is turbine smooth, very pleased with the result. He even sends a nice chart showing the advance curve of the bob-weights through the rev range.

The interesting thing about this (to me at least) was the distributor cap. I had noticed the odd blue flash under the carbs at night time and I found the reason, see below picture:

This is a cheap copy dizzy cap and the small screws that clamp the HT leads do not have a head on them and therefore do not have a 'stop' to limit the engagement. The previous owner had screwed them in so far that they were bursting through the top of the cap and one was actually visible, hence the sparks. It scares me to think that a few drops of fuel at the wrong time could have been a disaster in the making. Anyway, all good now with the excellent cap that the DD supplied me with.

Cheers, Jonathan

[elangtv2000]

Yikes!
A few years ago a friend had his Elan on the chassis dyno, and the performance was surprisingly poor. I saw sparking at the distributor cap through a crack in the plastic. I drove home to find one of my last brass terminal caps and we swapped it out to finish the dyno runs, with a noticeable difference in performance.

[Andrewelan]

Out of interest how did cost compare to a new off the shelf unit?

[Andy8421]

I had a very similar experience with distributor caps. I was racing, and had a number of 'DNFs' due to cap failures. At one stage it got so bad that I would change the cap before each race.

At the time, all of the usual suspects seem to have obtained their caps from the same source, and they were all pretty useless. The giveaway (shown clearly in your picture) is the moulding sprue in the centre of the cap over the HT lead from the coil. Good caps don't have this.

It was this experience that first led me to 'The Distributor Doctor'. I don't go anywhere else now for ignition components.

As a general comment, if next time you have your cap off, you find your cap has the moulding sprue I would recommend putting it straight in the bin, and buying a decent cap from the Doctor.

[JJ66]

Out of interest how did cost compare to a new off the shelf unit?

Hi Andrew, The rebuild by the Distributor Doctor was £195 +VAT, and then when you've added secure postage it all comes to around £245. This includes the following: Strip and blast clean of the housing, new main bushing, bob weights rebuilt/replaced as necessary, springs individually tuned to give exact advance curve (Graph supplied of output for your distributor), new points, condenser, rotor arm and finally distributor cap, all which are top quality. If the drive gear is worn then Martin can supply new replacements, and if the boss where the clamp fits is cracked (around 80% of them are) then Martin machines this off and presses a solid collar onto the body, which is pinned and bonded, both of these options are extra cost (Collar is ~£30). Martin (DD) can rebuild your distributor (as he did for me), or a quicker option is if he has one off the shelf and yours is then an exchange unit, both options are there.

I don't know if genuine new units are available, I suspect not, and if you go down the route of a cheap copy distributor then you would have to do your own research to determine if they were any good, I have read posts saying that the advance curve was a long way out on some of them and that bearings don't last long, but others may be OK.

In my case I am very happy to have the original unit that came with the car when new, now restored to as good or maybe better than new. And the difference in performance? Incredible, the difference is night and day. Tickover was at best lumpy, at worst horrible, and it is now turbine smooth. I bought the car in Feb this year and it had an engine rebuild only a few years back at 94k miles (its now on 97k) and I always thought that it should feel and sound better than it did - It now sounds like the rebuilt motor that it should.

Regards, Jonathan

[Andrewelan]

Thanks Jonathan

Mine (yet to be ever heard running) came with an Aldon 103 based on a type 43. Will see how it goes and perhaps invest with DD once we actually 'run'

Cheers

Andrew

[TBG]

A cautionary tale.

I have successfully dealt with the Distributor Doctor in the past but my latest visit has not been a happy one.

I told Mr Jay on the phone that I had a misfire and that it showed up on the rev counter and thought that a rebuild was in order. I was having a problem with jetting and sound advice is make sure the ignition is in top tune.

The cost of the rebuild was £195, and on refitting the misfire was still present. On talking to him he said it could be a rev counter fault!! Well I said no as it works OK with my other distributor - a very old one. He said OK for another £160 he would fit a new electronic kit!

This would bring the total to £355!!

So I got onto Aldon who sell the same stuff and they sent me the kit for £90.

I really would have expected better from Mr Jay having sent him a distributor with a known fault and getting it back unfixed.

It may be that the testing he does is done at 12 volts and of course the car runs at just below 14V - may make a difference? - but I think that is being kind to him.

[JJ66]

Hi there TBG,

Sorry to hear you have a had a bad experience. The voltage used shouldn't cause any issues, its more likely a bad connection or something on the low tension wire that is too close to an earth. Certainly the answer to a misfire shouldn't be to fit electronic ignition, if a misfire is present then it should be possible and relatively easy to fix with the existing points set up and then move to electronic for the stability/reliability. In fairness to the DD he can't diagnose (and shouldn't have tried to) a misfire based on the distributor alone. I had a very similar issue not long after fitting my rebuilt distributor, a misfire and sometimes a complete ignition loss, just for a second or two, and it turned out to be a dry joint between LT wire and spade connector that plugged into the side of the distributor! Have you now fixed the misfire?

Best Wishes, Jonathan

[TBG]

Jonathon - yes indeed. Fitted the module supplied by Aldon and car is going like a greased weasel!!

"In fairness to the DD he can't diagnose (and shouldn't have tried to) a misfire based on the distributor alone."

And why not? That is what he says he does and the issue was clearly with the electronic module in the distributor, and he failed to diagnose it and failed to fix it. Unless of course I paid an extra £160..............then he could fix it......................Jeesh! D

[JJ66]

Jonathon - yes indeed. Fitted the module supplied by Aldon and car is going like a greased weasel!!

"In fairness to the DD he can't diagnose (and shouldn't have tried to) a misfire based on the distributor alone."

And why not? That is what he says he does and the issue was clearly with the electronic module in the distributor, and he failed to diagnose it and failed to fix it. Unless of course I paid an extra £160..............then he could fix it......................Jeesh! D

Hi D, Apologies, it didn't register with me that you supplied the distributor for him to fix with an electronic unit installed, my mistake. In that case then I do agree, it was a reasonable assumption that it should have been diagnosable and fixable. Electronics aren't my strong suit but it might well be that testing at 12V is not enough to check all conditions, we all know that alternators charge at up to 14V and this might make the difference.

Glad the car is running well now at least!!

Cheers, Jonathan