1977 Triumph Spitfire 1500 Distributor

[Black Cat]

Hi,

 Having problems with my distributor on my 1500 Spitfire. The car has had a complete body off rebuild and I also replaced the distributor with a direct replacement one from Ebay, yes I know that’s not always the best place to buy them.  The carbs have been professionally restored with all worn components replaced and any parts which need to be ethanol proof have been replaced.

 I recently took the car to a rolling road to have the carbs set up and they had an issue with the distributor as they were unable to detect any vacuum so all they could do was blank it off for now and set the carbs up the best they could.

 Took the car out for a run and the car ran OK up until about 60mph when it just lost power and I had to reduce the speed down to 55mph to get home.

 I’m assuming the reason for the lack of power may be due to the issue with the vacuum and the carbs not being set up as they should be, do you think this is the case?

 If the issue with the distributor means I need a new one I was thinking about changing it to the 123 electronic one from Rimmer, ref RKC638EL at a cost of £306.00 incl. VAT. The only issue I have with this is how do I know if my Triumph needs a connection for a mechanical rev.counter, as electronic 123 one does not offer this and if so how is one added?

 Many thanks

[Pete Lewis]

the vacuum has nothing to do with performance  it has no eefect on acceleration or top speeds  its an economy device and advances 

by using a vacuum developed at small cruising throttle positions it gains around 4mpg  

someones having you on 

many after market dizzy have completely the wrong advance curves and are really rubbish , look nice thats about it 

club dizzy are made by H &H  they can refurb youre original 

lost power can be many things as the max advance on the dizzy is at around 3000 rpm so if it runs up to 60ish your at that level  it wont advance any more

making silly statement to you about the vac , do they realy know wht they are doing ??

either the tiny hole near the throttle plate is blocked or the vac diaphragm has failed  there is little to go wrong here.

its more likely while messing with the fueling you have made some of the dreaded rubber slivers from inserting metal tubes into rubber hoses, hopefully the fuel hose was not the fake ebay rubbish , stick to things like gates barricade 

what was the hose supposed to be ??     

these little sods block the back of the fuel float needle valve    you need to check for them 

Pete

 

[Black Cat]

Thanks Pete, I'll check out the fuel lines before I do anything else.

 

[Pete Lewis]

Yes  thats a good plan  the trouble with ebay hoses is they are soft and you make slivers every time you play around 

wasnt trying to be a bit harsh but some basic things are often clouded with tripe ideas ( well misguided myths about how things work )

Pete

[NonMember]

1 hour ago, Black Cat said:

Took the car out for a run and the car ran OK up until about 60mph when it just lost power and I had to reduce the speed down to 55mph to get home.

Every time I've had that behaviour from a car it was due to a inadequate fuel supply - either blocked by crud or a failing pump.