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Flame-Thrower Electronic Distributor?

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chad

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Hello again everyone,

I received this message from the guy helping me restore my midget.

"The MG is running and starting to sound good. Eric had another good day. He installed a set of points and condenser first thing and no fire. Upon checking we had no fire to coil. hot wired coil and still no spark. Then he inspected the distributor and the internal wire had a break in it, He then made a jump wire inside the distributor and then had fire . Upon priming carbs and having good oil pressure he got it to fire. He filled the cooling system, adjusted the carbs, adjusted timing and basically spent the afternoon adjusting and running the engine. Getting it running along with other things we had a good day. As far as parts we feel the distributor is already causing problems, the internal wire , the base not letting fire thru points etc. Eric had to jump wire inside the distributor to get it to run. We think you need to replace the original point distributor with an electronic unit. There is a flame thrower distributor part no 10-518 in Victoria British and we also need a coil either part no 10-538 or 10-539. "

He is wanting to use a new Flame-Thrower Electronic distributor, and i'm not sure if this is a good idea vs using an original one. Anyone have any thoughts? I sure do apreciate everyones opinion here, thanks
 
I'd send yours off to have it rebuilt:

https://www.advanceddistributors.com/

Jeff will make it work like new and put and electronic trigger in it if you really do not want points. He can also supply you with a premium rotor button.
 
On my 78 Midget I installed and electronic Pertronix Unit with the Flame Thrower coil. With the plug wires being somewhat on the old side I desided it was the time to change them as well so the new components could work as designed. Gas mileage has improved and the car runs great.
 
I'd still prefer to have the old one rebuilt with the proper curve and vacuum advance unit. I'm not much on the idea of a generic replacement distributor. I haven't looked at Jeff's prices recently, but I think it would be cheaper.
 
Jeff rebuilt my badly worn dizzy and threw in a pertronix unit for a great price.

Call him, he'll explain why a OEM rebuild is better than a new unit, and really, the same price or cheaper! Mine looks brand new, and the car runs SO much better (granted, the other one was horribly worn).
 
When I acquired NCBugeye she had contactless (Pertronix) ignition but I wanted to convert to negative earth, so it came out and I went back to points. I have a negative-earth replacement for the contactless setup but have not fitted it yet. (So many projects, so little time)

She runs well but I suspect she could run better. How do I tell if the distributor is worn? What are the symptoms?
 
The Petronixs Flamethrower distributor is not a bad set, we did one in a MGB, it worked fine, and it a pretty good buy at around $200, but my buddy Jeff at Advnced Distributor can probably rebuild your unit for less.
 
Sounds good, but how do I find out if I actually need it replaced/rebuilt? The motor in NCBugeye is a 1275 from a 1974 (?) Midget.
 
Primarily three things that wear
1. the bushing, so check for side-side play in the shaft
2. the springs can weaken or break over time, so use an adjustable timing light to see how much advance you have at different rpm ranges (with vac advance off)
3. vacuum advance can leak. Check with suction to see if the vac advnce moves the breaker plate.
 
Replace the distributor because the wire to the points broke?

If the only problem is an inability to get current through the points, that should be easy to fix. First, make sure the points are installed right. There are plastic pieces to insulate the moving part from ground, and people regularly get them in wrong. Replacing the distributor for that reason is like replacing the engine because the valves are out of adjustment--complete overkill.
 
One way to check for a worn dizzy is with a timing light. Go ahead and hook it up and watch for couple of minutes. If the timing stays rock solid, your dizzy is just fine. If however it wanders all over, it could mean it's time to take action.
 
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