Electronic Ignition

[don58van]

I assume the new distributor i bought wouldn't work because i have a 25D in my car but tried to fit the 45D.

No. The 45D will work as a replacement for the 25D. There are dozens of confirmations of this on this site. Some even argue that it will work better than the 25D because as a later unit, it has design improvements.

Don

[Blaketon]

My mother has had an Aldon set of electronic points on her MGB GT for years and it works well. You simply replace the points with the Aldon bits. I have just fitted a set to my father's Midget, which has a 25 D distributor (The distributor of the 1275 Midget is a little fiddly to get at for doing points). This was in conjunction with other work and I hope to be firing that up soon. My MGB GT V8 also has them, as V8s eat points. I have a good supply of good points, rotor arms and condensers, that I got from http://www.distributordoctor.com/, so I won't be fitting Aldon points to my Midget 1500 or the Morris, where access is good, on the Midget particularly so.

[Chappers]

Hi Cyril,
Please see my post on “distributor replacement advice” on this section of the forum.
I detailed how I replaced my old ignition system (still working fine), with a new electronic one, bought from eBay as a kit.
Still have the old parts in the boot though...just in case...
Not a difficult job at all.

[MOGGIEMOS1@]

I assume the new distributor i bought wouldn't work because i have a 25D in my car but tried to fit the 45D.

No. The 45D will work as a replacement for the 25D. There are dozens of confirmations of this on this site. Some even argue that it will work better than the 25D because as a later unit, it has design improvements.

Don

Thanks Don.
Yes i read on here about changing the 25D for a 45D so I thought I'd give it a go but it just won't have any so I'm going to refit my old points system today.

[geoberni]

Thanks Don.
Yes i read on here about changing the 25D for a 45D so I thought I'd give it a go but it just won't have any so I'm going to refit my old points system today.

But we've already established from this other topic you joined, viewtopic.php?f=11&t=71287&p=648159#p648069
that you're confused about the wiring of the couple of leads required.
I have concerns that you're just going to end up in one heck of a mess if you now go and fit points to a Dissy that was sent to you presumably pre fitted with the electronic points installed.
You're making it sound like you're ripping the car to bits chasing a problem that only exists because you're having problems fitting the bits you brought.
I think a step back, deep breadth, and double check what you have done so far.

[MOGGIEMOS1@]

Hi yes you guessed it I'm in a right mess now ive replaced the old dizzy and I just don't seem to be getting anywhere so much head scratching I'm ready to get rid...I just know something very simple is stopping it from firing but I can't fathom it out..il strip it all out again next week just in case I got the timing wrong on the crank pully and see how I go on....thanks to everyone who has tried to help...hopefully il have good news next time I post thanks again

[geoberni]

strip it all out again next week just in case I got the timing wrong on the crank pully and see how I go on....

Was the car not a runner before you started this Dissy work?
if it was running, then you may well have fitted the Dissy out of place.

[MOGGIEMOS1@]

Success at last she's purring like a kitten...I don't know how this happened but I connected the ht leads as quoted with the rota arm at number 1 and that ht lead going to number 1 spark plug but I couldn't fathom out why it wouldn't kick in despite good sparks...so this morning I decided to move the leads around the cap one at a time making sure the 1342 sequence was kept and bingo after 3 attempts it fired up and as never sounded better..I'm still scratching my head as to why but happy as I can be now its sorted...thanks all for your advice and patience with me very much appreciated

[geoberni]

Well if you rotated them all in one direction and after 3 tries it all worked, then it was basically 90 degrees out in the 'other' direction.
Either you got the splines a bit off when dropping the Dissy in place, or it's just the timing of the new Unit. Many people find the Accuspark electronic unit required the Dissy to be a fair few degrees different from the points setup.

When I first got Basil his Dissy vacuum was pointing straight up, but I discovered his ignition was all over the place, wrong gap on the plugs and tappets etc.
I needed to rotate the dissy further anticlockwise to get the timing right, but I physically couldn't due to the Oil Pressure switch.
So I rotated the connections one way and the dissy body the other, resulting in the vacuum unit now some 80 degrees clockwise compared to to the earlier position it's now nearly touching the Dynamo mounting!
But all runs sweetly.

[MOGGIEMOS1@]

Yes after thinking about it had to be 180° out but I decided not to fit my electronic distributor assuming it was faulty so dropped the points dizzy back in at what I thought was the correct position comparing where the vacuum advance was pointing prior to removal but was not to be...I assumed there was only 2 positions to insert the dizzy into the drive for the dogs to fit in..am I right...typically I chose the wrong 1 but tried to get the positioning of the vacuum advance close to where it was previously...ive an enormous sense of satisfaction knowing I fixed it even though it was such a simple job eventually....I'm leaving it alone now ive put a new condensor and points in while it was out so am happy thanks again I'm over the moon

[geoberni]

I'm confused as to if you have restored all to the conventional points in the dissy, or have fitted an electronic unit?

[MOGGIEMOS1@]

No I didn't use the new electronic distributor thinking it was faulty..so reverted back to my points dizzy....after finally sorting it out I'm thinking now that the electronic distributor was probably ok that's maybe another project for another time now...like I said in previous posts I like to have a back up of everything so it will get used eventually

[myoldjalopy]

The reason some convert to electronic ignition is due to failure of sub-standard components in the points set-up - especially condensors and rotor arms which have had a bad press in the past. I've certainly had a couple of early failures of rotors.
Therefore, I suggest you get all your ignition components off the 'Distributor Doctor', whose parts are top-quality. Since using his stuff, I've never had any ignition problems with my points system (several years now ).

[MOGGIEMOS1@]

Thanks for the tip loads of good feedback on here so will definitely use his products :