123 Ignition

[andyp]

I got my first run this afternoon after fitting a 123 ingition unit having read several good reports. What a fantastic piece of kit. I felt the difference as soon as she fired. I certainly wasn't expecting to notice anything with a cold motor on choke. Much smoother right across the rev range and an advance curve (#7) that obviously suits my engine better than the one my old distributor was giving.

Now I'm not saying that I couldn't have got somewhere near if I had rebuilt the old distributor and played around with weights and springs but dropping in a complete new unit is an awful lot easier.

So I've only done a 100 miles on it thus far but I'm very impressed.

Andy

[Heuer]

Andy

I would be interested to hear your ongoing experiences with the 123. Is it the latest generation (JAG-6-R-V) designed for the XK engine? Also what curve are you using, what type of coil and what are the plug gaps?

David

[andyp]

David

It's the XK version and I'm on curve 7. I might play with curves to see if I can squeeze anything more out if I get bored and therein lays my only complaint with the 123 - that you need to remove the unit to adjust the curve.

I've got a few hundred miles on it now and it really is a cracking piece of kit. The engine feels so smooth and powerful.

My coil is a good old fashion Lucus sports coil and I'm running standard gaps on NGK plugs. I've got a set of Iridium plugs sitting on the shelf that might go in next time.

The only other thing to say is to watch who you order from. One of the usuals seems to think it's OK to charge 40% more than the others.

Andy

[Heuer]

Andy

With the Lucas sports coil they recommend plug gaps of 40 thou; by "standard" do you mean that or the 25 thou for the standard coil?

The one thing that was putting me off the 123 was the hassle over changing the curves.

David

[andyp]

David

I'm still at 25 thou but I dare say they'd open out a bit.

I've always found that 40 thou was pushing it a bit for the old Lucus "Sports" coil (I've been using them since my Mk 3 Spitfire 30 years ago) and I've just been happy to have a better 25 thou spark.

Besides I come from a simpler age when you only needed two feeler gauges. Plugs were always 25 thou, points were always 15 thou. Tappets were something you looked at if the top end got noisey.

When I get the new plugs in I might go all modern and open them out to 32 thou. In the meantime she's running so nicely that I'll just enjoy the drive.

Andy

[Heuer]

Andy

Like you I am running at 25 thou, with Magnetronic ignition and a Bosch blue coil although I have a gold Lucas Sport on at the moment. I was going to try 40 thou to see what the difference might be so looking for experiences.

I have one of these: http://www.innovatemotorsports.com/products/lm1.php so once I am happy with the fuel mixture I will start playing with the gaps. I also have a Road Dyno http://www.roadtune.co.uk/roaddyno.shtml which is great for quantifying and comparing changes.

Biggest change so far was fitting a Filter King set at 2psi which solved my 'splashy' idle and made the mixture more consistent throughout the range. Act of faith on my part as I would never have guessed it would make a difference but the guys at CMC insisted it would. Bargain upgrade!

Regards

David

[andyp]

David

Some nice tools there. I have a Sparkrite somewhere but my mixture is set by hand and ear and feels about right. I wonder if your little gizmo would agree though!

Like you I've fitted a Filter King and I think it was CMC that put me onto it too. I wasn't having any fueling issues but it looked like a good move.

I'm running mine at 2.5psi but might well follow your lead and pull it back to 2psi and take her for a couple of test runs down the Chichester Bypass.

Andy