Power spark distributor with electroninic ignition

taffyjenks

taffyjenks

Member
Posted previously in the wrong forum.

11 minutes ago​

#1​
Hi everyone.I have purchased one of these distributors to attempt to sort out a backfire which has been diagnosed as a faulty distributor on my Series one 2000tc.Does anyone have one of these fitted to their car?.Are they easy to fit as I am finding difficulty in getting someone to fit it for me?Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I am determined to use the car a bit more as it seems such a waste.

Regards
Tony.
 
Hi Tony yes I have fitted one of these from power spark one of the best items I have ever bought for my P6
much better spark easy to fit.
Did you get new HT leads as well ?
also new spark plugs and rotor arm and new coil from power spark?
I found that it’s best practice to change the lot out, no point putting a nice new electric ignition in with worn out plugs and crusty old leads with a worn out coil and half dead rotor arm.
 
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Thankyou for your reply.Due to the running problems I was having everything has been replaced including a complete refurb of my HS8 carbs.After parting with a
 
Sorry fat fingers.After parting with a load of cash it was further diagnosed with a worn distributor hence my purchase.Hopefully this will sort it so I can use it regularly.

Regards
Tony.
 
taffyjenks said:
Sorry fat fingers.After parting with a load of cash it was further diagnosed with a worn distributor hence my purchase.Hopefully this will sort it so I can use it regularly.

Regards
Tony.
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Nice one Tony well it sounds like your well ahead it should run like a dream.
With the electric ignition just remove the points then fit the electric ignition with the white paste you don’t need much and be careful because it can go everywhere, then just connect the red and black wire, I would suggest disconnecting the battery before you start this process, other wise you can blow the electric ignition up and it definitely won’t work, the battery must be disconnected. If you have any questions feel free to ask.
 
I think tony has purchased the complete power spark distributor, ive fitted one to my mgb but havent road tested it yet, easy to fit, just need to use a strobe to set timing, recommended by practical classics i think
 
If it’s all together then even better but will still need to disconnect the battery when fitting.
 
I've fitted the complete distributor to my 2200SC and it works well. I also fitted a Lucas Gold 12 volt coil and by passed the resistance wire.
 
suffolkpete said:
I've fitted the complete distributor to my 2200SC and it works well. I also fitted a Lucas Gold 12 volt coil and by passed the resistance wire.
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That’s the Sports coil I am not a coil expert but I suppose there are different quality’s like all things in life anyone know what theses are on a coil ?
Mine is just a standard silver one from power spark in fact I don’t think it has any information on the coil
It’s brand new no issues but maybe I would be better investing in a gold one?
 
A bit about coils: The sports coil produces a higher voltage at the spark plug. The standard setup on most 4 cylinder P6's is to use a ballast resister and a 1.5ohm coil (Measured across the low tension spade connectors on the coil). The idea is that the coil runs at aorund 9 volts under running conditions, but will have a 12 volt supply when cranking on the starter motor.

Non-ballasted coils have a resistance of around 3 ohms (Measured across the low tension spade connectors on the coil). These are designed to use 12 volts under all conditions (running and starting).

So, you can bypass the resister with a 1.5ohm coil, but it will run hot and may well burn itself out. If so, you would want to fit a 3 ohm coil as a replacement.

To make things a little more complex, Rover in its infinite wisdom decided to hide the ballast resister inside the wiring loom from the points to the coil negative terminal (via the tachmeter if fitted). After 40 odd years they tend to burn out causing the ignition to stop working. That happened on my car and I replaced the wire without a ballast resister and put in a 3 ohm Pertronix flamethrower coil.

You may find the the electronic dissy will expect a 12v supply. In which case you'll need to by-pass the resister in the loom anyways. You'd also want to fit a 3 ohm coil as a 1.5 ohm coil will unduely stress the module in the dissy.

I hope my witterings make some sort of sense?

Best,

Steven
 
I had a powerspark on mine. The first one was too tight to fit the oil pump shaft. Life isn't as long as it should be. I had to replace again about 5 years later... Kept ejecting rotor arms and mashing the cap.
 
rockdemon said:
I had a powerspark on mine. The first one was too tight to fit the oil pump shaft. Life isn't as long as it should be. I had to replace again about 5 years later... Kept ejecting rotor arms and mashing the cap.
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I had wondered about their quality. Do they just have a standard advance curve or is it set to suit our cars? I've had my original dissy rebuilt by a specialist along with a re-curve to suit mods made to the engine. I use a Magnatronic module from the guys that make Lumenition ignition modules. The Magnatronic unit has an aluminium body which allows for better heat dissipation. I'm pretty sure what kills a lot of powerspark and pertronix units is the plastic bodies retaining heat and cooking the internals.
 
Supposedly it's suitable but I've been told by others it's closer to a range rover in timing curve
 
Here in Canada the ballast resistor was on automatic transmission cars only up to 1969. 1970 was a mix, then from 71 on all 4-cyl cars had ballasts.

Yours
Vern
 
I too was apprehensive will all of the information available but mine was fitted with the original non ballast coil and seems to work fine .The timing was adjusted by ear and seems to be fine.Not given it a good run because of the weather but looking forward to testing it properly.Thanks for the comments and good luck with your cars.Regards Tony.
 
Vern Klukas said:
Here in Canada the ballast resistor was on automatic transmission cars only up to 1969. 1970 was a mix, then from 71 on all 4-cyl cars had ballasts.

Yours
Vern
Click to expand...

Funny how it was different to Canada vs the US. Both my 68 and 69 2000TC's had ballast resisters for the US market.
 
sdibbers said:
A bit about coils: The sports coil produces a higher voltage at the spark plug. The standard setup on most 4 cylinder P6's is to use a ballast resister and a 1.5ohm coil (Measured across the low tension spade connectors on the coil). The idea is that the coil runs at aorund 9 volts under running conditions, but will have a 12 volt supply when cranking on the starter motor.

Non-ballasted coils have a resistance of around 3 ohms (Measured across the low tension spade connectors on the coil). These are designed to use 12 volts under all conditions (running and starting).

So, you can bypass the resister with a 1.5ohm coil, but it will run hot and may well burn itself out. If so, you would want to fit a 3 ohm coil as a replacement.

To make things a little more complex, Rover in its infinite wisdom decided to hide the ballast resister inside the wiring loom from the points to the coil negative terminal (via the tachmeter if fitted). After 40 odd years they tend to burn out causing the ignition to stop working. That happened on my car and I replaced the wire without a ballast resister and put in a 3 ohm Pertronix flamethrower coil.

You may find the the electronic dissy will expect a 12v supply. In which case you'll need to by-pass the resister in the loom anyways. You'd also want to fit a 3 ohm coil as a 1.5 ohm coil will unduely stress the module in the dissy.

I hope my witterings make some sort of sense?

Best,

Steven
Click to expand...
my 1967 2000TC has always been hard to start ( lacking spark) . The distributor has a small red Platdic module, so guessing it is some kind of electronic ignition module. Wondering now if that is dying. My local classic car specialist did not want to touch the "non-standard" dissy.

Thinking about installing a standard dissy. Will need to check if I have replaced coil with the wrong one. Need also to investigate the ballast issue.


And here I was thinking non-fuel injection cars were "more simple" :)
 
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