Simon BBC Electronic Ignition

[rpurchon]

Would you post a pic of yours fitted please , when you get a mo

 

Tar

 

Cheers

Guy

 

heres a picture of mine.it lasted about 1000 miles before packing up.

it did give a couple of miles of warning, missing and backfiring.

not like a good old condensor.no warning.

i have now seen the light and fitted megajolt.

richard

Edited May 18, 2011 by rpurchon

[Jersey Royal]

Thanks for the pic Richard,

 

I carry the Simon version as a spare to the Pertronixs, in case my goes, or in deed a fellow TR chappy

needs it. I should have looked at it in more detail, the pertronixs fits to a base plate, with that removed its

easy to see how it goes.

Thanks Again

 

Guy

[Richard Baines]

I've had one fail after 200 miles without warning, but had a replacement sent out with no hassle and overall very good service from the vendor. Not sure whether I'm going to fit the replacement yet as points are running okay (though never are as smooth as electronic), I might go straight to Megajolt as that uses modern OE technology and has even more benefits than 123-ignition (no timing chain / cam accuracy problems, can use ANY advance curve instead of having to try out preset ones). The only downside to megajolt is that you can't take the rotor arm out anymore to stop thieves.

[Ashley James]

Would you post a pic of yours fitted please , when you get a mo

 

Tar

 

Cheers

Guy

 

heres a picture of mine.it lasted about 1000 miles before packing up.

it did give a couple of miles of warning, missing and backfiring.

not like a good old condensor.no warning.

i have now seen the light and fitted megajolt.

richard

 

 

I had two Pertronix fail too, the first was gradual and may have been excessive under bonnet heat in France, it got worse over a month or so until it packed up completely. I replaced it at vast expense and it failed again and to be fair, it may actually be alright because I've heard from several different sources that it is possible, and yes this is difficult to believe, but I have seen it on a motorbike, that when it's really hot the distributor fails to make a good earth contact with the engine, so best to run a wire across as a precaution.

 

By this time I was thoroughly p-----d off with PerTronix and my son had to go out twice to save another Bentley owner whose Lumention type system kept blowing bulbs, although he didn't know that at the time, so I decided to go back to points. Bentleys use an American Lorry Distributor from Delco Remy with twin points and they last for ever, but Lucas distributors are not as good, so I've bought a new points one for £29 from Simon BBC on the basis that I can have five fail before I've spent the price of one from another supplier!

 

Ash

 

Sorry, my maths is poor, it's more than eight!

Edited May 18, 2011 by Ashley James

[Guest ntc]

Both will melt your nice new red rotor anyway,but what do I know,not a lot

[Ashley James]

I don't think it's worth worrying about because ignition timing isn't so critical as anyone who has had his car on a rolling road will tell you. Carburettor settings make enormous differences, a friend with an old V6 Fiat got 25 BHP more just by correcting the jets, but a few degrees either way on a distributor is difficult to see on a dynamometer, so my advice is have your distributor overhauled and keep the points etc correctly set, carry spares and don't bother with anything fancy because it's not worth the expense.

 

Ash

[Alec Pringle]

Hi Ash,

 

I'm not convinced that you are 'under fire', not quite that strong - but for sure there's a wadge of tongue in cheek cynicism in response to your observations. But absolutely no personal offence intended.

 

There's been many a discussion over decades in respect of electronic ignition systems, and also in respect of repro and reconditioned distributors in more recent years. We'll probably still be good naturedly arguing the merits, or otherwise, of electronic ignition systems and of points as applied to TR engines when we meet our maker . . . .

 

Distributors themselves are another matter. In the past, there have been some very competent reconditioners of Lucas dissies, and also some slaphappy charlatans. OK, I'm going back a few years, but there have been rogue 'reconditioners' of Lucas distributors - and of other electrical components - amongst suppliers to the Triumph fraternity. Similarly, at least some of the reproduction electrical components on the market more recently have comprehensively failed to match the calibre of original items. They might have looked good, just didn't do the job that well.

 

I've seen and heard quite enough evidence and opinion from chaps whose abilities and experience I respect to draw some conclusions. The fact that Martin Jay and I are old buddies has nothing to do with the price of eggs - there are other TR specialist with whom I've been buddies for 20, 30 and more years, but that doesn't mean I'd wish to do business with them !

 

I'd suggest that Distributor Doctor's rebuilding standards are as good as Lucas ever managed, rather better than the Lucas average, even in their heyday, and in current terms probably as good as it gets. However you look at it, that costs money. Law of diminishing returns, each increment of higher quality costs proportiontely more of our hard-earned ! For a modest cooking engine in a budget classic, not necessarily worth the expenditure. For a performance engine, particularly a tuned engine to non-standard specification, more than desirable in my view - the more so for competitors obliged to utilise period components exclusively.

 

Turning to reproduction distributors, some at least that have appeared on the market in recent years are of a considerably inferior standard compared to OE components. Some of the advertising of such repro dissies I'd consider to have contravened any reasonable concept of fair trading - they quite simply did not and could not achieve what was claimed.

 

It's hardly surprising that the TR fraternity regard repro components in general with a certain degree of scepticism, until such items are proven to perform up to scratch. In this particular instance you have a reproduction dissie which impresses you, in terms of apparent quality and in terms of value for money. Fine, you're an astute and experienced enthusiast, clearly this dissie has something going for it ! Nevertheless, I'd reserve judgement of its performance in service until such time as the item has actually been put into use and tested. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think you have yet had that opportunity ?

 

SimonBBC I wouldn't know from Adam, and I have no personal experience of his current product range - my reservations expressed above refer to other sources of supply. But until such time as I've seen independent evidence to demonstrate the calibre of his products, I'll stick with products of proven provenance.

 

And in this instance, I'll be only too pleased if my scepticism is proved unfounded by proper test results !

 

Cheers,

 

Alec

[Ashley James]

Fair comment Alec, can't disagree with any of that and you're right II haven't tested my new distributor yet. I can't get the bloody car finished off in the paintshop! Other jobs keep slipping in front.

 

My car was fitted with a so called Lucas Racing Distributor from Aldens. It's worn out and didn't have enough advance to cope with the high compression of an 87mm bore engine. It had done 40,000. There are Bentleys knocking around with Delco Remys on them that have done 300,000 plus miles and are still serviceable. I think they were American and used on trucks, even the twin points last 50,000!

 

And I'm absolutely sure you're right about the Distributor Doctor too, he has an enviable reputation.

 

Ash

Edited May 18, 2011 by Ashley James

[Alec Pringle]

Hi Ash,

 

please see email . . .

 

Cheers,

 

Alec

[Steves_TR6]

Hi, thanks for the compliments on my car's paint.

 

Its nothing to do with me !

 

Car was resprayed in 1990, so the paint isnt perfect by any means but is does look quite nice.

 

All ihave done is a machine polish with Mer, quite a lot of red came off with the polish but it is very shiny now

 

I don't have a proper website but there are some photos on Flickr at :

 

 

 

Steve

PS SimonBBC ignition still working fine for me.

[Andy Moltu]

Looking similar and being similarly reliable are not the same.

 

The electronic components in one may be better (or worse). Price and quality are similarly not directly proportional.

 

Given that the "regular" brand isn't exactly reliable you are unlikely to be much worse off trying a similar but cheaper one.

I'm tempted to stick one in the boot as a spare rather than carrying around an ancient set of points & baseplate in case the ancient Piranah module in mine fails.

[Guest ntc]

Well I stuck one in the 3 today as a test and it transformed the car but time will tell

[Ashley James]

Whether you choose either the PerTronix or the Simonbbc electronic ignition, you're getting little more than a switching transistor and a spinning magnet. They are probably both made in China, but one has a massive advertising budget to affect the retail price.

 

My company is an electronics manufacturer and my business partner once worked with the electronics engineer who designed the Lucas electronic ignition used in the Silver Shadow and the Range Rover of the time. Both were utterly reliable, though more complicated (its all built into the transistor now) and if they did fail, it was because the resistive plug leads had gone high and there was no load on the transistor.

 

I bought the points version of their Distributor for £35 for my TR3 because I had grief on the Bentley with PerTronix and it's easier to replace points on the roadside.

 

Ash

 

[Guest ntc]

I will also add if I may? the dizzy has done under 4000 miles from new ( yep) and is in perfect nick,the timing was checked before and after,before a small amount of splatter on the mark with pucker points and condenser,after none the car starts instant and runs much better also 15% cooler

[TR NIALL]

Well I stuck one in the 3 today as a test and it transformed the car but time will tell

 

Hi Neil,Was that a complete Dizzy with Electronic ignition or just the

£29 Electronic Ignition that you Fitted.

[Guest ntc]

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