General: 140: Anyone tried "in distributor" electronic ignition?

[Ben_144]

Has anyone tried (I searched but didn't find any previous posts) the Accu Spark / Powermax / electronic points/condenser solution? Setting gap/dwell is not the easiest task - and the thought of a permanent solution is appealing especially for around £25. www.simonbbc.com is the web link, not affiliated in any way.

Welcome opinions and thoughts before purchase - or if I am first I shall report back.

Cheers

Ben

[MikeMS]

Ben.

I did look at the link page and could not see the item for the price you mentioned.

Anyway, is the product you are looking at the one suggesting you never need to adjust the ignition again. If so, I assume you would need to set it up in the first place and the system will effectively not give you the chance to practise and get a better result by subsequent adjustments.

As a rule of thumb, I am always wary of something that offers to improve a process that has been happening since the dawn of the motor car for such a cheap price. But that is just the doubting side of my nature.

Good luck and have a bash.

Kind regards

Mike.

[Steve and his 244]

Not on a 140, but on my 244 that was originally fitted with a points and condensor setup, I fitted a hotspark brandad kit that I got off ebay, but was advertised for volkswagens which happen to have the same distributor entirely. Ive found it excellent, the car ticks over smoother and I have no worries about points failing or having to change them

[Ben_144]

Thanks both.

Spoke to Simon today and it turns out he does not (yet) have a variant for the Bosch distributor (on my 144 at least...). He will have some in a couple of weeks, I have pre-ordered one and shall see what it's like when fitted.

Will report back with findings...

[jakob hartel]

i did pertronix from ipd and it's quite smooth all over. installation is easy but get a good look at the distributor befre ordering your part. I didnt and had to do a bit of drilling and gluing but nothing complicated.

[john h]

Hi Ben,

Can't comment on the ignition, but welcome to the forum. I'm always pleased to see another 100 series owner on here!

Can you tell us about your car and post some pictures?

Cheers

John

[redboy]

here's the site that does bosch ones- I've had one on my 245 for 10K miles no problems! Also have one in a lucas on an Allegro and thats good too!

http://www.hot-spark.com/

[redboy]

...no drilling- simple installation, just need to read the part carefully on resistance and coils so you don't fry it.
cheers,
Brian

[Ben_144]

Thanks all - pity that Hot Spark option is based in the US - I was doing well until I saw their shipping charges!

John - thanks for the warm welcome. 1972 144DL auto (no roadburner...!) 120k ish miles, very orange with black interior. Seen some life, very much a rolling restoration/refurbishment. I made the mistake of jetwashing the whole car (that was good) and then getting the distributor etc wet (not so good...) and have been chasing electrical gremlins for a week. Currently won't start/run properly. Changed points (is the Haynes right for a B20a to be 18 thou gap?) but not sure I have set the dwell (no meter) correctly. Trying to locate a new condenser locally to eliminate that.

And it was running fine before....grr!

Any bright ideas that I may be overlooking - pearls of wisdom welcomed!

[redboy]

I ordered mine off of ebay-
here's the auction

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ELECTRONIC-IGN...item3a5b4f69d3

Just look on the hotspark website for the cross reference. If I remember, mine is the same as the 1200 beetle with 'vacuum advance'.

For some reason they're still twice the price of the simonbbc one for lucas, but they look identical and come in identical packaging- they seem to be made in the same factory.