electronic ignition

[A D Price]

Thinking of fitting electronic ignition to my 1974 mgbgt. Has anybody got any preferences or tales of woe
Thanks Alun

[Charles Farran]

Hi Alun,

I fitted a 123 ignition distributor some 12 years ago & it has been totally reliable. (I am aware that there are one or two other members on the forum whose experience may be different). Yes it is expensive compared with the alternative systems - however if "originality" of look under the bonnet is also important to you , then the only difference from a viewing point of view is the additional power wire into the side of the 123 distributor & possibly the colour of the distributor cap (although i have since obtained a new spare cap that is black like the original Lucas distributor cap). No messing around having to change / reset traditional points & capacitor whilst trying not to drop the screw fitting the tiny screw with the distributor in the car.
I was convinced at the time i changed to the 123 from a traditional points set up that the car ran smoother through the rev range & seemed a bit more sprightly! (My 123 version was before the later ones which can be reprogrammed whilst in the engine using a USB lead - mine you simply adjusted a setting underneath the body of the distributor using a table index that referred to the particular MGB engine it was being fitted to which was easily done & then inserted in the engine & set up with a strobe timing light using the specified degrees .....). I haven't had to reset it since & only replaced the cap & rotor arm as i took the cap off to clean inside & didn't put it back with the clips properly such that when i next used the car the rotor arm & cap got slightly damaged ( but still worked) so replaced them just in case.
I have kept the original distributor which came with the car , so that if i sold the car (most unlikely after almost 43 years), then it would go with the car.

Cheers,

Charles

[Charles Farran]

Hi Alun,
See picture for ref purposes of fitted 123 - no additional boxes to fit - i appreciate costs need to be taken into consideration.
Cheers
Charles

[Vic Butler]

I fitted a 123 to my Series 3 Land Rover and it was absolutely useless. I set it per the instructions and the vehicle was gutless and then a misfire developed. I returned it and got my money back . As a stopgap I reverted to Charles Kettering's antiquated system of point and condenser and power was immediately restored. I went for a rebuilt distributor from the Distributor Doctor fitted with Pertronix electronic ignition. After timing the engine by ear about 13 years ago no problems since.
Best to get a proper MG distributor rebuilt and fitted with a known make of electronic ignition eg Lumenition, Pertronix.

[A D Price]

Thanks for your replies
I have just had my distributor rebuilt on my 1949 land rover. Getting the timing correct is proving to be a nightmare due to a lack of timing marks!

[Vic Butler]

I timed my Land Rover by ear with the engine running. It does have timing marks but I ignored them. I've no idea what the timing is but it runs extremely well and doesn't pink even when pulling from 10mph in top.

[Petejev]

I have recently fitted the Accuspark distributer with 8mm silicone leads and Accuspark sports coil to my 71 Auto B GT. Much improved starting and and was simple to fit. Timed it with a digital meter and there was a strong and reliable spark spot on at 14 degrees BTDC. Reliability time will tell. Pete

[Dave Wheatley]

I purchased a Powerspark E distributor on Ebaya Month ago. The segments in the distributor cap were badly misaligned, so I contacted the supplier. He sent me a new one wnich was fine, and included a new rotor arm.
So far so good. Timing really needs strobe electronic settinng up. All this for £30!

[GeoffK]

Hi Alun. I also fitted a Powerspark conversion to my 73 GT and have found it faultless. I set the timing with a strobe lamp at 20 deg btdc @ 1000 rpm. This is easy to do as it is easy to check the rev counter @ 1000 rpm and there is a timing pointer that aligns with 20deg. Have recently driven the car 260 miles through Wales in just over 8 hours and the engine never missed a beat. It is hard to beat the pleasure of having 10 miles of open road through the Welsh mountains on a warm sunny day!! Cheers Geoff

[Not_Anumber]

+ 1 for Accuspark. I fitted an Accuspark distributor a couple of years ago. This is basically a standard distributor with an Accusparek module in place of a set of points.
This was two birds with one stone for me as I had wanted in any event to replace the original distributor as it had some damage to the anchor point for one of the cap retainer clips. The Accuspark needed it's own clean +12v supply run from the fuse box (i couldnt just tap this off the + feed to the coil on mine as that was run through a ballast resistor). Ive only run the engine up a few times since then but it seems ok