Engine first start

[lyons]

I understand that there were various types of distributor fitted across the XK engine range, however can a XJ one be used if it is not one of the electronic ignition type .

[MarekH]

Short answer is yes and why not?

The slightly longer answer is that the advance applied at start can be in quite a wide window and the various combinations of static advance, vacuum advance and centrifugal advance are all going to be in the same ballpark as each other at 120rpm. They will only start to be differentiated greatly once the engine is loaded or once the rpm is significant. At 120-700rpm, there is very little action going on with an unloaded engine.

kind regards
Marek

[christopher storey]

Actually, the S3 XJ6 electronic ignition system is one of the most desirable . The Distributor and the amplifier are needed but this tends to be one of the most reliable systems you can fit, if electronics take your fancy. The curve tends to be more suited to BW automatics than to manuals, but in practice it is perfectly useable in a manual E

[lyons]

Thanks for replies so far.

Do I assume that with the amplifier connected that I can use XJ series 2 distributor to start the engine !

[christopher storey]

The S2 XJ6 had points type ignition and therefore had no amplifier. It is perfectly OK to use such a distributor on an E, although the advance curve may not be ideal

The 4.2 litre ( not 3.4) S3 XJ6 was the first XJ ( as far as I know) with electronic ignition, and for this set up you need both the distributor and the separate amplifier . Same caveat about advance curve