The 'E' Type Forum

No , not the `70s pop group with the guy on keyboards who looked like Hitler ...But
Thinking about fitting a new distributor and possibly using the Powersparks ( Simonbbc ) unit.They offer a high energy version + coil which has 3 x the sparking power .Would this improve engine performance ? Is there a downside to fitting this ? Present set-up seems to run ok with standard points etc .the only reason I`m changing is I suspect the advance curve is still US spec. and it has no vac capsule. Thanks.

max-it-out wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 12, 2020 2:52 pm

Thinking about fitting a new distributor and possibly using the Powersparks ( Simonbbc ) unit.

Don't. They're badly made Chinese rubbish.

I bought and tested one a few years back. The advance curve is nothing like the Jaguar one and from memory advance topped out at something like 40 degrees.

Spend the money on getting your original unit properly rebuilt. You can get the curve matched to whichever E Type curve you want and you can fit a vacuum advance as well if you want to.

I would partially agree with Andrew....get your original distributor refurbished....then fit a powerspark module in place of the points and condenser....mine has been there for eight years and not missed a beat....the complete distributors may be iffy according to Andrew but the electronic points replacement modules are absolutely fine....no more burned points and poor sparks....

Fitting electronic ignition of any type will only give a marginal improvement in performance but there are other benefits which most of us agree are worthwhile. The biggest improvement you're likely to notice will come from fitting a distributor with the UK spec. mechanical advance curve and a vacuum advance capsule.

The downside is that the higher energy spark is more likely to cause your leads, coil and plug caps to breakdown so replace those at the same time. Possible problems with your rev counter not working properly can be minimised by wiring the new electronic ignition in correctly.

I've run a Powersparks distributor and found it fine, my rev counter still works perfectly and it survived use in very hot weather. It was a great improvement over my US spec. original distributor but I do not know how well it follows the appropriate advance curve. Worn Lucas distributors don't do a particularly good job either.

Exactly right....really for road use a sports coil will make little odds. They do provide a better spark at high rpm as they are able to absorb energy between sparks at a higher rate than std coils...it is the energy built up in the magnetic field between points opening events that provides the energy for the spark....for road driving an E.type rarely gets beyond 4000 rpm so the std coil is perfectly able to keep up. Sports coils have a lower impedance primary and put extra stress on the points or electronic points replacement if fitted. Mine is a std dizzy and coil with a std powerspark module...pulls like a train

According to the info. provided by Powersparks , the dist. they recommend for the 6 cyl. " E " has an advance -
7 degrees @ 1000
14 degrees @ 3000

I`m not an expert here , but that doesn`t sound quite right .IIRC a recon dist. ( Distrib.doctor ) topped out at 24 degrees advance ( adding 10 for the SIT would give 34 , plus c. 4 by the vac. unit would be around 38 at light throttle cruise 60-70 mph which would be my guess at the most efficient setting ).

Maybe I`ll give the Powersparks a miss then .

Correction to my last post - the figures quoted were distrib. degrees , so they do seem ok for a 4.2