123 distributors.

[Ashley James]

FWIW and probably well understood by most on here. Engines need very little advance at tlickover, less than ten degrees and about 38 degrees once they're above 2-3,000, so that's the range most distributors have. The springs on the centrifugal advance weights can be changed to allow speed up or slow the advance process.

If everything is perfect, an original distributor will work as well as anything, but eventually the cam that opens the points wears as does the centrifugal advance mech. On 356s they tend not to fully retard and so you have a choice between too slow or too fast a tickover.

Therefore if your distributor is worn out, you have a choice between a 123 and a new or rebuilt one.

Where the 123 is more useful IMO, is not engines with different Camshafts from the originals. If they're hotter, you invariably find that instead of less than ten degrees static isn't enough and you need fifteen or twenty, but still less than forty at higher revs. You have to modify a standard distributor to limit advance or with a 123 you can experiment using manufacturers distributor advance curve as a starting point.

[Lightweight_911]

Thanks for the update Mike - sorry to hear about the 356's bonnet - has Hayley found out yet ?

[roy mawbey]

Interesting thread, so sorry about the bonnet Mike, I well remember my brother having the same experience in his 51 split screen. His shock at seeing suddenly just the top side of his bonnet instead of road he has never forgotten. I must say I do check so often mine.

I suppose its why some have the leather straps to stop that happening but... maybe its me, I find them a rather messy accessory. I also feel much the same about the distributor, mine is still the original one from 1959. I agree with Winston that electronic items are always in the back of mind they will fail somewhere and I will not know how to repair.

Points yes, they can get pitted and the condensor can fail, but so easy to rectify on the road. I like the fact I know how it all works. Yep, I must be getting old, I even like wind down windows, and one speed wipers. I could go on and on and on and on...... !!

Roy

[Kenyon]

Sorry to hear re the bonnet. Did the latch not engage properly or the cable snap? Just thinking about checking mine.

Good that it wasn't worse at least.

Phil

[Kneeslider]

Ouch... How bad is the crease in the bonet?

Mine was kinked when I bought it, but only a little, and like a fool, I thought that it was due to an adjustment issue with the hinges, so only figured out the gravity of the situation when I got the car back from the paintshop! Of course, that made rectifying the problem so much more difficult without having to paint the lid again.

I managed to carefully take the crease out by applying steady and gradual pressure with a bit of 4x2 across the opening to push against.

I'm not so far away from you, so maybe could pop over to have a look at it?

[POR68]

The 123 ignition seems to an 'accepted' modification nowadays. I hear only good things in Australia about them. I have BR18 Bosch and refurbished it with new internals but still found that it was giving at times fluctuating readings. Too much play in the shaft. So I sent it off to David Braham in South Aust. as he has all the parts for old distributors from 1910-1970 and the original Sun testing equipment. He completely rebuilt and re-curved the distributor for under $300 including postage. Different car!

However, in the process I received a new condenser. Well that failed after 4 months and then the 'new' replacement failed. I started testing the 9-10 condensers I had and checking the forums and there is a major problem it seems with the manufacture of this critical item (no longer by Bosch). The old Bosch ones work well and even the GB505's but the newer ones are the weakest link.

I considered the Petronix but with 6V that is not a happy camper, it appears. There is also the (similar) HotSpark system that gets good reviews from my distributor guy. My advice is that it gets over the Petronix problem of crank voltages lower than 5.0. The attraction of having no points and no distributor is still there and the 123 ignition is looking better every day ...