401 Ignition Coil

[brianjgkidd]

> I think we're going to have to agree to disagree on this one. I ran a Bristol 400 for
10 years with an entirely conventional ignition system - lovely car but, unless everything was on top line with the ignition system, it was prone to misfiring.

When I purchased a 405 30(!) years ago it was fitted with a Mobelec electonic system which, whilst this overcame the misfiring problem, was not entirely reliable. Moreover, when I started classic car rallying such a system would clearly be frowned on by the rally scrutineers as non-original. So back to the conventional coil/CB system. But, once again, unless everything in the ignition system was A1, the occasional misfiring was possible. However, 8 years ago, on fitting a high energy coil with a ceramic ballast resistor - end of problems; never a misfire, reduced wear/pitting of the contact breaker points, absolutely no arcing at rotor arm. I set the plug gaps at ."025; cold starting is always excellent.

Each to his own, I suppose.

Regards,

Brian Kidd> > > > > >

[Bellerophon]

Most of the problems which seen to crop up are because the cars have worn
and are not to their original specification that they left the works in, and
instead of correcting the faults people change the set up. (several members
have been caught out by electronic ignition going dead on then and there was
nothing that they could do to get the car going)
I bought my 401 car in 1962, it had a sports coil fitted, and at the time I
raced and rallied the car and never had a problem with the ignition until 1995
when the coil failed when it became warm. I fitted a new sports coil and
have been running well ever since. (with no detrimental effects).
However, the question I ask is how many members look after their
distributor? That is clean it and all the wires, check and lubricate the balance weights
etc.
The thing you should remember is that the car was on the top line when it
left the works, and if it has been looked after it still should be, so you do
not need to modify it to make it run correctly.
My regards,
Bellerophon