Amazon: Distributor issues...

[Faust]

I was fitting new points & a condenser yesterday and I noticed that the return spring (as in when you turn the rotor arm and let it spring back) on my distributor in well past its best… it’s rather (ahem) ‘floppy’. The oil pad has always been kept lubricated, as has the port on the body of the distributor.

I’ve noticed that my car hasn’t been particularly happy for a while so I’m guessing the worn dizzy ain’t helping.

I’ve had a look around and I can’t seem to find a replacement - the car is a 1970 B20b spec. I’m guessing I need the Bosch 078 with vacuum advance. There is an identity plate on the dizzy but it’s rather worn and I can’t make out the text.

I’d rather stick with points and a condenser rather than convert to a 123 unit or similar.

Does anyone know if you can buy new or exchange stock distributor units? I’d rather not go down the rebuild route as my Amazon is my only car and I don’t want to be off the road for a couple of weeks.

Any advice would be appreciated as always.

[arcturus]

I appreciate that you want to stick with original dizy but in my humble opinion you would not regret changing to 123.I have them fitted to my PV and 144. No regrets.

[Clan]

Originally Posted by arcturus

I appreciate that you want to stick with original dizy but in my humble opinion you would not regret changing to 123.I have them fitted to my PV and 144. No regrets.

With points you can always get the car going again with a screwdriver , with these electronic ignitions you are stuck where you are and will have to get towed back . The Bosch points of the time were utterly reliable for the 6000 mile service intervals . which points are people using these days , are the Bosch with genuine fibre heel still available?

[swedishandgerman]

Think I might have one of those here. Not my favourite distributor, but fine if you leave the stupid vac retard disconnected.

[swedishandgerman]

I just checked and there's nothing like that in my collection any more. I used to have a collection of knackered distributors that I'd repair and sell cheaply to people in your situation. I've practically given them away, sadly. I put a thing out asking for old distributors, but people asked for like £50 or so for their rubbish!

As such, 2 options I recommend: despite everything the guy does, Rob at Amazoncars likes to ditch standard distributors in favour of 123's, so he might have a good one you could repair. Also, slip over the the 140 section of this forum and catch up with a lovely chap who calls himself Triple-S. Once, he collected tired 140's and stripped them for parts.

An 078 is quite specific, but you could definitely use a B18B 009 or 007 distributor which is fully mechanical advance and works SUPERBLY in a B20B. They're also quite rare nowadays too.

[Derek UK]

This distributor might benefit from replacement springs. The two springs have different strengths. The light one allows a quick increase in advance as revs rise initially and the second stiffer one then gives a slower advance up to the maximum. The tabs that hold the springs can be tweaked a bit to change the rates but that is best left to someone who has a set up machine. Note that the holes in the weights commonly wear and this can mess up the advance curve too. There's quite a bit of variation in spring rates and weight of the weights. Correct new ones for each application are not easy to find. Don't fit one if the stiff springs in replacement for the soft one. If you do you will get hardly any advance at all. S&G may have some spare used parts?

[swedishandgerman]

Originally Posted by Derek UK

This distributor might benefit from replacement springs. The two springs have different strengths. The light one allows a quick increase in advance as revs rise initially and the second stiffer one then gives a slower advance up to the maximum. The tabs that hold the springs can be tweaked a bit to change the rates but that is best left to someone who has a set up machine. Note that the holes in the weights commonly wear and this can mess up the advance curve too. There's quite a bit of variation in spring rates and weight of the weights. Correct new ones for each application are not easy to find. Don't fit one if the stiff springs in replacement for the soft one. If you do you will get hardly any advance at all. S&G may have some spare used parts?

Sadly my collection of distributor parts is depleted. I have a collection of unidentifiable springs. I really need people to send me crap distributors so i can be the person to help others out when they're in trouble!!!

[Faust]

Thanks for all the advice guys.

Couple of points:

Vacuum advance – blocked this off years ago following advice on this forum!

007/009 – I’ll have a think about this.

Don’t want to go down the rebuild route myself…messing about with spring rates doesn’t sound like the best idea if you’ve not done it before.


At some point I’ll be looking for a bit more power from my engine. I’m saving up for a trip at the moment (want to walk the South West Coast Path next year – all 630 miles of it) but after that I’m thinking decent cam, KG Trimning performance head, I’ll upgrade to steel/alloy timing gear, possibly twin weber 45s etc. I suppose a decent 123 with the various map options might be my best bet ahead of all these modifications – I did think of an engine swap but I want to stick with good old B20 power. I’m going to budget 3.5-4 grand for these parts (I’ll assemble myself and get it professionally tuned/rolling road set up).

Food for thought and all that.

I would miss setting my points gap though.