EI Distributors - too good to be true?

Fumes

Try Shutzing Gel Coat. Boy the screaming from my wife about that one.

Sure it smells stronger than Polyester Resin, but it does a very good job.

TonyK.

Grimsby Ontario Canada.
 
HA! Its becoming apparent now...

that both of you guys are building fiberglass parts just for the HIGHS you get from the fumes!
 
UPDATE: Surprise!!!

Took the X out for a spin today. I've done a lot of work over the winter and have cleaned injectors, a new exhaust header/muffler, timing belt, motor mounts, etc.and need to test/check everything.

I set the engine timing with a light to 10 degrees advance. Engine purrs like a (big) kitty. In fact, runs GREAT until I hit 5,000 RPMs, at which point it begins sputtering and loses power. Up to 4,500 pulls real nice and sounds great.

So I came home, pulled in the driveway, checked the timing, etc. Everything looked OK. Decided to pull-out the new distributor and put in the old one along with the harness + ICM. Set the timing again and took her for a spin. No problemo -- pulled strong with no sputtering well thru 6,500.

So I think there's a problem with my integrated distributor at higher RPMs. Perhaps it has a different advance curve? I dunno. I didn't catch this when I did my initial test last Fall/Winter because I never hit the road. Just idled and rev'd gently in the driveway. I don't typically rev much over 3K in neutral and not for long so I missed this issue. Really disappointed because this looked like a great solution.

geekdaddy said:
Just wired it up and plugged it in. Works great! Apparently my wiring diagram and harness does the job :)
Thanks to Henk and others for the recommendations...

Now I have to decide if I will keep it. My old distributor is "old" and I noticed the shaft spins ok but is clearly not as smooth as the new one -- but it seemed to work just fine. If I keep the new one I have to fabricate a new access panel. Hmmm... What to do...
Click to expand...
 
docpan said:
what did you do for the header and exhaust?
Click to expand...







I received very mixed feedback from forum members about buying a header/exhaust from Mark but decided to do it. Experienced a few disappointments but am overall satisfied with the product and will hopefully submit a small write-up with photos etc. when I have more time.
 
WOW... Interesting problem...

I think you actually hit on the problem... But I think it also may not be advancing at all versus advancing too far!

You might consider disassembling the new one a bit to see if the weights are free... Best to compare to the original and check tension on the springs also.

Maybe a spring swap might help... but the BEST way to tell is to put the thing on a Sun Distributor Tester and compare the two. I think yur gonna haveta find an OLD shop around town though. Some old dealerships may have one as well.

Always sumthun', huh!
 
I think I'm done futzing around with this distributor. I will chalk this up to risk-taking that didn't work-out well for me. If anyone wants to play with the distributor to evaluate adjustments to the springs, advance settings, etc. I will mail it to you along with my modified wiring harness for it.

Bob Brown -- might be something you could do in your "spare time" :nod:

Black-Tooth said:
I think you actually hit on the problem... But I think it also may not be advancing at all versus advancing too far!

You might consider disassembling the new one a bit to see if the weights are free... Best to compare to the original and check tension on the springs also.

Maybe a spring swap might help... but the BEST way to tell is to put the thing on a Sun Distributor Tester and compare the two. I think yur gonna haveta find an OLD shop around town though. Some old dealerships may have one as well.

Always sumthun', huh!
Click to expand...
 
Yur such a whoos Greg... just like Bob said...

I bet you ONLY have 40 bucks invested and two months of putzing with it... Not exactly the kinda $1000 dollar effort Bob or I woulda expected from you!

(HA! I do like your offer though... hopefully someone with MORE spare time than Bob will pick up on it. I think even Bob would have difficulty without some kinda device like the Sun Tester to activate the centrifugal and vacuum advances at speed... and see what its actually doing at any given RPM.)
 
I did this, it works great.

I did this to a racecar to make accessing the dist. easier. What I did was remove the studs, then drill holes through the plate. Then I nut-serted the existing holes. After I used weather-stripping to form a nice big (relatively) thick sealing cushion on the inside and mounted the plate from the inside with bolts. It fits very well, and you gain a lot of space that way. It seals up nicely too. I would be concerned about water entering and getting trapped between the plate/panel on a street car that sees lots of rainy days though.
 
Looks like Vicks just got in a reasonable priced electronic distributor and within 6 weeks will have the angled cap, so there is a good fit. Talked with them today.
 
I've Got One Of These

Bought it on Spec but my old Dizzy seems to be doing just fine.
Anybody want it. l paid $40 +S&H. PM me and we'll work out a price where I break "even".
 
I hope I'm not doing something awful by zombie-ing this thread, but I'm curious whether these have been revisited & if anyone has a few years' experience yet. A friend pointed these out to me the other day (still 39.99 btw) & I got one to check out. My '79 already has the access panel reversed AND I have a 128 I could use it on, so I figured why not experiment. I got the impression that you could use the late X1/9 cap on this distributor, but I haven't tried or measured (fitting & fitting right are two different things) yet. I'm chasing down some dual carb issues on my '79 and so making sure I have a solid ignition & fuel delivery baseline is part of the gig, so I'm considering trying this distributor if I find any issues with the one currently in the '79 (which seems to have a cap that can move too freely to seem right at the very least). thanks in advance for any feedback on this cheap-o option
 
Chris, not an answer to your question about the quality of these clone distributors, but regarding the distributor cap being loose ("moves too freely").

That is typical with this style Bosch distributor (assuming you have the Bosch and not the MM). The same basic Bosch design of distributor has been used on millions of vehicles for many decades all around the world, and they all have caps that can rotate a couple degrees. Combined with those silly spring-steel clips to hold it on, and they really aren't very accurate in today's terms. But that was sufficient back with Bosch designed them. Usually the cap will not move once you get everything set and don't touch it, so it really isn't a huge problem.

However there are a couple other factors to consider with this.
1) There should be a plastic 'dust shield' between the cap and the dizzy body. And the little 'notch' in it (that mates with the notch in the body) should be in good shape. With this cover in good condition and in place there is much less play with the cap. Unfortunately this cover is usually chewed up or completely missing, allowing more "free movement" of the cap. I haven't looked to see if these dust covers can be purchased new but considering how common this Bosch dizzy is I suspect they can.
2) The caps are pretty universal fitting. Most of the ones designed for this general model of Bosch dizzy can be used on any of them. There are a few odd exceptions but the differences are very minor. So there is a 99+% chance the late cap will work on the clone dizzy you are referring to.
3) Be careful with those steel cap-retainer clips when the cap is off. They will flop inward toward the working mechanism inside the dizzy and if the engine is turned (dizzy is rotated) the clips can damage the reluctor wheel (on electronic versions). This is very easy to happen when performing a tune-up and will pretty much ruin the dizzy.
 
Thanks. That certainly puts my experience on a good control point. This cap appears to have more play & be more prone to actually moving being bumped than other SOHC units I have. I hadn't really considered the dust shield, but I got the impression the notch on the cap may have some edge wear making it looser. I'll check.
 
+1 on the dust shield, I have a '70 Volvo 145 with a '74 ignition system, I've had several years (30?) of experience with them; one of the first things I saw on my '86 Bertone was that it was
A: a familiar Bosch system and
B: missing the dust shield.
These take a dist. cap that is evenly spaced from the clips; I've had an older dist that had an offset (clip closer to one side than the other); these AFAIK had an iron body instead of aluminium; there's a selection of usable rotors as well.
As an aside, the genuine Bosch units had a groove in the top edge of the aluminum body that should align with the #1 firing position; you can clock the distributor roughly before first start after (re)assembly.
 
Last edited:
Dr.Jeff said:
Chris, not an answer to your question about the quality of these clone distributors, but regarding the distributor cap being loose ("moves too freely").

That is typical with this style Bosch distributor (assuming you have the Bosch and not the MM). The same basic Bosch design of distributor has been used on millions of vehicles for many decades all around the world, and they all have caps that can rotate a couple degrees. Combined with those silly spring-steel clips to hold it on, and they really aren't very accurate in today's terms. But that was sufficient back with Bosch designed them. Usually the cap will not move once you get everything set and don't touch it, so it really isn't a huge problem.

However there are a couple other factors to consider with this.
1) There should be a plastic 'dust shield' between the cap and the dizzy body. And the little 'notch' in it (that mates with the notch in the body) should be in good shape. With this cover in good condition and in place there is much less play with the cap. Unfortunately this cover is usually chewed up or completely missing, allowing more "free movement" of the cap. I haven't looked to see if these dust covers can be purchased new but considering how common this Bosch dizzy is I suspect they can.
2) The caps are pretty universal fitting. Most of the ones designed for this general model of Bosch dizzy can be used on any of them. There are a few odd exceptions but the differences are very minor. So there is a 99+% chance the late cap will work on the clone dizzy you are referring to.
3) Be careful with those steel cap-retainer clips when the cap is off. They will flop inward toward the working mechanism inside the dizzy and if the engine is turned (dizzy is rotated) the clips can damage the reluctor wheel (on electronic versions). This is very easy to happen when performing a tune-up and will pretty much ruin the dizzy.
Click to expand...
Unless there is a huge amount of play, I don't think it will affect performance since the spark is going to jump from the rotor to the plug contact when the coil fires. It would have to be really far off (or a really weak spark) for it not to fire.
 
No, it is firing fine,but for other reasons I wanted to rule out the possibility of timing drifting on the car .

Thanks for the input!
 
Bought one for 40.00 shipped and decided to install it today since my computronix went to @@^$#. The first thing I did for more clearance between the access plate and dizzy was to install a 79-83 angle cap. It fits fine if you cut a new notch in the dizzy body 180 from the existing notch. Then took the access panel out and gently bumped the upper curve inward on an old tire with a plastic hammer and it looks fine and has plenty of clearance now. Fitted a stock Bosch coil from a 80 or so X and wired accordingly. Fired right up and seems to rev fine. Will Set total timing to 26 degrees but I feel it will need the springs changed for quicker advance since I am not running vacuum advance and with no advance it is a 26 degree advance unit at 6,000 rpm according to the advance sheet included. I am currently awaiting my 123 Bluetooth distributor from Germany and will play with this unit until it shows on my door. The plus side to cutting a new notch to fit the angle plug cap is that you can cut the notch so the angle cap lug fits tight in the new notch. Also the rotor has lots of slop in the fit and rotates quite a bit. I will come up with something to tighten that up as well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top