Lotus Europa Community
Lotus Europa Forums => Garage => Topic started by: Jess Larsen on Sunday,February 14, 2016, 02:25:18 AM
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Hi All
What is the right place to connect the vacuum tube coming from the distributor.?
I have a twincam with strombergs and the high-level balance pipe fittet.
Best regards
Jess
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The best place is to not hook it up at all. The vacuum unit is actually a retard unit for emission controls. If you must hook it up, it goes to a manifold vacuum tap under one of the carbs.
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Does it mean that i do not need a distributor with a vacuum unit, when emission control is removed.
The tap you are refering to under one of the carbs, is it this shown on the picture, under the front carb.
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Yes, that's the vacuum port for the distributor. Just plug it off and the dynamic timing now is the same as the static timing.
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Thank´s.
I was thinking about buying a new electronic distributor, then i will go for one without the vacuum unit.
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You should consider the 'Lumention Optronic' ignition system. I have this on my twincam. It replaces the points and condenser with an optical switch and a 4-bladed 'chopper' - you need to use the standard Lucas rotor and not the rev-limiting rotor. The system also has a control module that I mounted on the passenger side to the firewall in the engine bay. You will need to do some wiring work to get the system installed. When you use a timing light to set the timing, the light image on the flywheel is very crisp and not a wide blur as with the factory system. I bought my system many year ago from Dave Bean Engineering.
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Another possibility is Pertronix. They make direct replacements for Lucas, with or without the vacuum retard.
http://www.pertronix.com/prod/ig/flame/dist/british.aspx
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Pertronix also sells a hall-effect swap for the old poins and condenser. They are very popular. I've liked mine. I had an optical ignition by Allison (they are now manufactured under a different name now). My ignition died while I was driving in the left lane of an interstate! I suspect strongly that the light went out. Now, that ignition was of late '70s vintage so I suspect the light was from an incandescent bulb and that an LED light would be much more reliable. If you decide on an optical ignition, I would make sure the light is not incandescent.
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Yep, that's what I have. I don't think Pertronix was making the replacement distributors when I converted mine or I might have gone that route, but if your distributor is in otherwise good shape then the kit is probably the most cost effective option.
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Many thanks for your advices, I was actually considering the Petronix but I will have a look at the Lumention Optronic too.
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Although I don't have it, you can also get a rev-limiter module with the Lumenition system.
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And for the Pertronix as well. I use one on mine.