Distributor clamp upgrade? 907 engine.

[DaveCooper]

74 Elite with the twin-cam 2.0 liter, enriched Strombergs, MSD 6A, open exhaust, engine finally working properly, then...

Bleeping-bleep, my distributor popped out of the housing again and left me stranded. Suppose I didn't tighten the clamp sufficiently. Don't want to strip the threads on the clamp; might never find another.

The design of this thing seems so poor. Has anyone heard of an upgrade--some type of clamp or mount where even if screws loosen, the spring-loaded distributor won't pop out? With these engines being used in racing for years, both in Lotus and Jensen-Healey models, I would guess this has been a problem. No?

Other Lotus models might have the same distributor design: side-mount, spring-loaded dist, rotor slot fits in about 1/4 inch and the dist body is held in place by a c-clamp.

Thanks for anything.

Dave

 

[DaveCooper]

Geez, 21 'views' and no comments. I guess I'm the only one griping about this issue.

The "Lotus Excel Forum" site out of England has a bunch of complaints about the distributor popping out on the Lotus engine as well, but no solutions. I would think the racers who run these engines near red-line, or even the Lotus Esprit owners with basically the same engines, have come up with an upgrade. I'd sure like to know what it is.

 

[creepingfur]

A friend of mine tracks an S2 Esprit and has stated that the first time he tuned up his car, when he got to the track, on one of the corners, the distributor cap popped off.

So he tightened up the clamp on the clip, and because it was old, stripped it so he had to track one down.

It seems that SJ Sportscars in the UK has them always in stock and the clip for the cap is a mere $4, and a fair bit better then the one he had on originally. It's a fair bit heavier duty. Shipping is like $8, Parcel Post. Takes about 2 weeks.

I've ordered one for the 912 motor I'm building so in a few, I can give you some hands on feedback.

 

[JeffS]

Well, the clamp is basically a TR6 clamp if I'm picturing the right one. A pinch bolt around the distributor body and one bolt holding it to the engine? New ones are plentiful. Or you can buy one fo ran MGB and cut one ear off, which may be significantly stronger than the original. And you can replace the pinch bolt - with a 1/4" x 1 3/4" fine thread bolt.

Another option is that many times the distributor body gets cracked form over tightening the clamp, causing it to pop out. I have a repair for that, and it helps hold the distributor in the clamp. Its a laser cut, press fit steel ring that gets installed on the distributor body after the distorted old aluminum ring that the clamp USED to ride on is machined off. Its a $20 option during a distributor rebuild. I also replace bent clamps during rebuilds at N/C.

 

[DrEntropy]

Geez, Jeff... where were you twenty years ago?!?!?

I wiuldn't try to count th' number of dizzy's I scrapped due to over-tightening of that clamp... 'course they weren't that hard to find back then, either.

 

[DaveCooper]

Yep, did the press-fit-steel-ring rehab (through Dave Bean) and pounded the pinch clamp flat again. Works fine now.

Thanks for the feedback.