DKY4A Distributor swop?

[Peter Naulls]

I too would urge caution. Better to patiently wait for good original DK4A parts and refurbish them yourself where possible.

[Denis Sweeney]

Ian, exactly what I did, but he was a useful source of information and advice.
It is true his condenser failed, but then so did four others I have had from other suppliers, I’m guessing they have all originated from the same duff source??

[Barry Townsend]

For what it's worth when I had similar problems I bit the bullet and purchased a new electronic ignition distributor which is outwardly identical to the original unit.. It's been on the car over two years and thus far trouble free. The particular unit I purchased as auto advance/retard which is another bonus as far as I'm concerned.
I can understand the purists shaking their heads in dismay but not to have to faff with points and condensers anymore is worth it.

[JonE]

do you carry a spare though, Barry? The excellent electronic units are great and work well, but we have same issue of the liklihood of sudden failure unless carrying something to replace it.

[Ian Williams]

Personally I though the electronic unit that was sent to me was very poorly made and for the money you could buy the parts needed to refurbish your Lucas unit. The one I inspected actually had as much play in the mechanism and bearings as most of the worn units in my parts shed, added to which the bearings were not in the right place in the body so not properly supporting the spindle they were made from steel not bronze had a very rough bore finish with no provision for lubrication, the pins and shafts were not hardened etc. I could also not find a measurable performance advantage against a properly repaired original and I really don't need the hassle of sudden failure. Just my opinion and many here claim to have gained good results from the electronic units which I don't doubt when measured against a worn out Lucas original as electronics don't suffer from point gap fluctuation due to wear. Which is just as well when the manufactures build the wear in from new just to save you from driving thousands of miles! Lets be honest when we are talking about these things, they are cheap, badly made and are unlikely to last long in relative terms. If you are determined to go down the electronic route I think that you would be better off just fitting a base plate to your original.

[Tony Griffiths]

..Lets be honest when we are talking about these things, they are cheap, badly made and are unlikely to last long in relative terms. If you are determined to go down the electronic route I think that you would be better off just fitting a base plate to your original.

Thank you for that valuable strip-down information on that crudely-made Chinese distributor. I have electronic conversion units fitted to the original distributors of two of our family A7s and both work perfectly. I tried one on the third car and it just didn't like it, popping banging and misfiring; possibly something to do with an unsuitable coil, or leads, etc - so that's running fine on the original system. One thing that I'm unsure of, do these units have a built-in advance curve or fixed timing? There was no data in the paperwork supplied with the ones that I bought.

[Ian Williams]

They have an advance curve Tony, with new bob weights and springs this is the only real good part about them. The pins on the weights seem rather soft so will probably wear more quickly the the Lucas ones but you are starting from a reasonable point. What everyone should bear in mind is that new bob weights, advance springs, bearings, spindles etc are all available for your Lucas.