Replacement distributor options

[Cosmo]

I have a 1750 engine in my 68 Spider and the springs in the dizzy are broken and the posts that they attach to are bent so I need to sort it out. I'm thinking of the following options.

1. Fix up my old distributor as standard or possibly with different springs/weights.
2. New Bosch distributor with a remapped advance curve for modern fuel and fast road driving.
3. A 123 electronic distributor with the settable advance curves.
4. Lock my broken distributor and use something like a Megasquirt to program my own advance curve.

Options one & two look to be the simplest route - just bolt it up and set the timing, although a home brewed spring/weight set up may need some fine tuning. I like the accuracy of the 123 set up but I've heard that the supplied advance curves are not optimal for modern fuels. The last option may be somewhat cheaper but I suspect it might be a world of pain to set up correctly. Driving is mostly for fun on the road with a little track day action and I would also want to throw in a MSD-6AL or similar in the near future.

Any thoughts?
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[alfalevel]

Maybe..this, I'm looking at this Alfa Romeo Parts and Alfa Romeo Spares from EB Spares - Specialist Alfa Parts Dealers looks and reads great I presume you are in the UK? I want one, maybe for my GTV 2ltr.

[alfalevel]

Sorry, you are UK. I lived in Fetcham near Leatherhead years ago, where are you in Surrey?
Cheers, Richard.

[Mound Dawg]

Have you spoken to Max?

[Cosmo]

Originally Posted by alfalevel

Maybe..this, I'm looking at this Alfa Romeo Parts and Alfa Romeo Spares from EB Spares - Specialist Alfa Parts Dealers looks and reads great I presume you are in the UK? I want one, maybe for my GTV 2ltr.

If you mean the distributor with the adjustable advance curve then that is actually made by 123ignition, as in my option 3 above. I have now found a further option as a variation of 4 - lock the distributor and use the programmable variant of the MSD 6AL ignition. But that only seems to offer 25* of maximum advance, not the +30* that you really need for the Alfa engine.

I'm not so far away from Leatherhead, in Farnham.

[alfalevel]

Hi Jim, I would appreciate any ideas for an electronic ignition for my GTV?
cheers, Richard.

[alfalevel]

Ok thanx cosmo for the heads up.
Cheers, Richard.

[alfalevel]

Maybe your option 2 is the answer...I feel I might do this myself.

[Cosmo]

Originally Posted by Mound Dawg

Have you spoken to Max?

If you mean Max "They're all crap apart from the one we sell", then yes I have. I don't mind strong opinions - I have enough myself - but I would be mindful to add reason to my argument. Fortunately I did get to speak to Andrew at Castle Combe on Saturday who was able to explain the issues in a little more detail.

It would help me a lot to get some information on the specifics of the remapped Bosch advance curve that Max claims so much for.

[harryf]

For my money I'd go with the 123 in your situation. There seem to be a lot of happy users out there.

I seem to recall there was discussion about a programmable curve version at some point in future which would let you do what you want.

But surely it has to be at least as good as the original system, plus it won't drift off with points wear.

[garry-graig]

Originally Posted by harryf

For my money I'd go with the 123 in your situation. There seem to be a lot of happy users out there.

I seem to recall there was discussion about a programmable curve version at some point in future which would let you do what you want.

But surely it has to be at least as good as the original system, plus it won't drift off with points wear.

I agree,I have something similar to the 123 ignition in my Spider for the past 15 years and not one problem..

[Mound Dawg]

Originally Posted by Cosmo

If you mean Max "They're all crap apart from the one we sell", then yes I have.

Umm, it's more like "we don't sell those because they're crap" but I know what you mean...

The dizzy's we sell are usually built with the advance curve to suit the owner's engine spec but we did a get a bunch built up to suit most cars (ie, "fast road"). I've got some advance curve figures somewhere in work for one of these but they're a bit meaningless unless your an expert in these sort of things (I'm certainly not!). I'll post these here at some point when I can dig it out!

[Cosmo]

Originally Posted by Mound Dawg

I've got some advance curve figures somewhere in work for one of these but they're a bit meaningless unless your an expert in these sort of things (I'm certainly not!). I'll post these here at some point when I can dig it out!

That would be great, thanks.