No (accu) spark - test sequence?

[AustinWood]

That's interesting. For some time my car has been reluctant to start using the starter but goes first compression on the handle.
I have been thinking it might be because the voltage to the Accuspark is too low. This thread seems to confirm this.
I use a conditioner so know the charge is good. The starter spins the engine over very well, but soon starts to slow. This implies that my battery is getting tired. I've been meaning to check the voltage while cranking but my meter is over at the other garage and I keep forgetting to bring it back.
I'll try to remember to fetch it tomorrow.

[Nick Salmon]

This thread underlines why I keep a conventional dizzy on board my electronic-ignition Ruby. The other day the car was reluctant to start and when it did fire it was missing. I took off the distributor cap and found that the central electrode was missing - it was lying in two pieces on the baseplate. Only the spring was touching the rotor arm. Substituted conventional dizzy and all fine again of course. Why the electrode sheared in half I have no idea - but if your electronic ignition starts misbehaving it's perhaps something to check right away.

[JonE]

It should be put into context the value of these things against the equivalent though. Perhaps we just have to factor buying two at their 80 quid clubcode cost. I've just had a quote for £37.20 for two toggles and two springs for the DK4A... has anyone found a cheaper supply?

[AustinWood]

I gathered lots of DK4A distributer bits from ebay etc and built up one fairly sound unit. However the advance mechanism was never satisfactory with wear in all the components. I had new weights, toggles & springs and it works reasonably well. Without a distributor test bench it's impossible to tell how ell the advance works. I suspect not very well.
The Accuspark I find is definitely better, down mainly to the new meachanical parts I think.
It has one other advantage which is that it only switches the current on when triggered. If you watch the ammeter and switch on, it initially shows a discharge for a second or two then switches off. Inadvertently leaving the ignition on therefore does no harm.

[Hedd_Jones]

Not that I've ever seen one, but I assume all the advance and retard bollocks underneath is still required on one of these, so can you not simply put a 'mechanical' ignition baseplate and components on, rather than relying on the electrickery? or is the spindle missing the lobes?

[Paul N-M]

Hi All,
This thread thows up an interesting question, well for me at least. I simply don't see the point of buying and fitting a piece of 'modern' technology because it's supposed to work better but having such little faith in it that you feel the need to carry an old tech spare.
Having parted with good money, something Seven owners have a reputation for not eagerly doing, I would expect, no demand, that it has the reliability of modern car systems. It is after all being sold as a fully tested working product and many after market electronic conversions are sold every day and are perfectly reliable year after year.
There are of course other factors that can effect reliability which impact on electronics that any particular gadget maker has little or no control over so attention has to be paid to these by the car owner ensuring all is in top working order and in this case the electrical system would be at the top of the list.
Having said all that if there is still doubt then why not make sure the old fashioned points systems work properly? Of course to make a good quality points distributor with alternative advance curves etc would probably be a lot more expensive than an attractively priced electronic unit but what price reliability and as I said at the top the need to carry a spare?
Am I alone in this thinking?

Paul N-M

[Ruairidh Dunford]

I have carried a spare distributor in all my Sevens since the age of 17 - for me, nothing has changed in that respect.

It is simply a very sensible thing to do, still.

[David Stepney]

Hi All,
This thread thows up an interesting question, well for me at least. I simply don't see the point of buying and fitting a piece of 'modern' technology because it's supposed to work better but having such little faith in it that you feel the need to carry an old tech spare.
Having parted with good money, something Seven owners have a reputation for not eagerly doing, I would expect, no demand, that it has the reliability of modern car systems. It is after all being sold as a fully tested working product and many after market electronic conversions are sold every day and are perfectly reliable year after year.
There are of course other factors that can effect reliability which impact on electronics that any particular gadget maker has little or no control over so attention has to be paid to these by the car owner ensuring all is in top working order and in this case the electrical system would be at the top of the list.
Having said all that if there is still doubt then why not make sure the old fashioned points systems work properly? Of course to make a good quality points distributor with alternative advance curves etc would probably be a lot more expensive than an attractively priced electronic unit but what price reliability and as I said at the top the need to carry a spare?
Am I alone in this thinking?

Paul N-M

No, Paul, you are not. I bought a rebuilt (admittedly DJ) distributor of ebay (£65.00 plus p & p) which immediately cured all the niggly running faults and increased the power. In fact i was so impressed, that I sent the lad my old distributor which he overhauled for £45.00 (plus p & p) which I am going to keep as a spare. The ignition system is now in good and standard condition. The car starts first time every time when cold and (allowing for the fact that the carb drips fuel into the manifold) hot. I see no reason to mess with the system. It may be different for the Ruby lads, though, with automatic advance and retard.

[AustinWood]

I also have always carried a spare distributor.
The original distributors are often very worn. A lot of the spares supplied have poor reliability, rotor arms & points especially. I used the original DS4 for quite a long time. It stopped on me once but I revived it. It did it again a couple of years later and I couldn't revive it at the roadside. I had a spare Bosch which got me home but never worked properly. My DK4A works but is far from perfect and I now carry that as the spare.
In other words the old 'old tech' I have found no more reliable than new 'new tech'.

[Nick Salmon]

David - Could you possibly share with us the contact details for the chap you used to overhaul your distributor?