Chris, Gary et al.,
The Lucas distributors almost always fail at the bushings, and also some
cam wear (irrelevant if converting to Pertonix Ignitor). Vacuum advance
goes as well.
I am sure Jeff at Advanced Disctibutors can confirm, but from what I've
heard as long as the springs don't show any sign of corrosion, the advance
curves are pretty accurate from the day it left the factory. Apparently
the old british springs are high quality.
The Pertronix Ignitor module will work just fine and allow for some wear in
the bushings, but of course if the rotor is starting to contact the
distributor cap you are overdue for a rebuild, points or no points.
Alan
On Tue, Apr 17, 2012 at 8:34 AM, Chris Dimmock <austin.healey at
gmail.com>wrote:
> Hi Gary,
> After a 100,000 miles or so, without having been rebuilt, any distributor
> (Lucas or not) will not be operating at the original factory advance curve
> settings. Especially a Lucas, which wears without regular lubrication, and
> where most of the advance characteristics are determined by 2 little
> springs
> and a cam.....
> Our problem is compounded by the fact that our cars, when they were built,
> were specified (look in your owners handbook) to run with high octane
> leaded
> fuel - which isn't available to most people in the world in 2012.
> So the issue is that no one with a non rebuilt, and non regraphed
> distributor
> is actually running the factory engineered advance curve; and in 2012, with
> current fuel, and changes made over the last 50 years or so to our cars
> (different cam? Rebored? Lightened flywheel? Ported head and bigger
> valves?)
> it probably isn't the correct advance curve for your current engine setup
> running current fuel....
> I can see the advantage, but I don't have a 123 distributor, so I can't
> comment on how you set it up, or how you change it.
> Best
> Chris
>
>
> Sent from my iPhone
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