distributor

[solomorris]

I need help to identify a distributor number 41238F.
Having catalog LUCAS 725 and not found, the distributor was pulled from a cluman.
Thank you.

[Spider]

I have it listed as being fitted to Austin 1800, MG 1300 MKII, Riley Kestrel 1300 & Wolseley 18/85.

[solomorris]

thanks spider is placed in a mini clubman
that's weird no??

[Spider]

Your welcome. Your Clubman is around 30 years old so a lot could have happened in that time!

[Andrew1967]

Just had a look at my Dads very original Wolseley 18/85 Mk2 and the distributor is numbered 41234F.

[Spider]

Hey Andrew, the list I have says that dissy was fitted to Austin 1800 HC, Marina 1800 (I didn't know they did such an animal!), Morris 1800 MKIII and the Wolseley 18/85 Auto. It was fitted from 73 to 74.

[Andrew1967]

Hi Spider, that makes the numbers or reference manuals about as accurate as the average BMC parts manuals then

Dad's car is a Jan 72 registered manual transmission car and the distributor is dated (wk?) 44 71, which would seem to be original to the car.

They did indeed do an 1800 engined Marina, Twin carb'd as well IIRC.

[goff]

Spider
The Marina 1800TC had the same engine as fitted to the MGB, A friend of mine had one 2 door coupe , I did not rate the cars, Bag of S**T, but that's my opinion ,other people might have liked them and maybe still do, The company that i worked for in the 70s had a fleet of the 1300 engine one's ,the mechanic hated them, Cheap and nasty,always in for repairs, If you was running one yourself ( Private ) It would great as you had a source of cheap parts from the mechanic ,It was the time when BL were cutting corners , Low cost , High Maintenance , No money on development !!!!!!, And the cars that followed were even worse.
Any of those P76s still around in OZ, I was on Holiday in Wellington in 1976 , Leyland had a compound full of them, According to my uncle who lived there nobody would buy them , As i remember him saying they had a V8 ???Or V6 but large cc, Gas gobblers

Goff

[Spider]

Andrew, thanks for that, I'll make a note in the Lucas List.

Goff, I think all we had here in the Marina's were A Series Engines (1300) and E Series (1750). It wasn't a car I followed so it may have had the B series here too. I have a college who is in to them (I think he got dropped on his head, but best not go there) so I'll ask him.

P76 - not too well loved in the day unfortunately, but about 10 years after the event, people started to wake up to what a great car they were and in so many ways, ahead of their time. They did get a bad rap very early on as the assembly hall wasn't really set up to handle a car as big as the P76 so the workers had a hell of a time trying to squeezed inside to do the the interior bits. They did sort that and went on to be a very good locally produced car. Saddly, it was dealt a savage blow two-fold i) The (so called) Fuel Crisis of the early 70's and ii) Leyland going broke!

They were fitted with a straight 6 or a V8 (based on the Rover V8) 4.4 litres I seem to recall, but very light. Here in Aust. at that time, the family car was a large car (still is) and Holden & Ford dominated that market, Leyland wanted in and this was the car that could have done it.

Don't see too many about anymore, I've never had one, but I think I could easily be temped.

[goff]

Spider
just looked up P76 on Wikipedia, Some interesting reading , Have a look, It mentions the Austin plant in Petone just outside Wellington, Lots of P76 clubs around OZ and NZ,
Did you have the dreaded Rover SD1 ??????? in OZ and what about the Allegro ,No wonder Leyland went bust.

Goff

[Spider]

Goff, I'll look up that P76 stuff when the tele turns to crap, thanks. I have a book that was written not that long ago about the P76 and like most BMC / Leyland Books it has a sad ending. Good read though.

Thank goodness we never got the Allegro - that thing is hideous! I have seen a few SD1 Rovers about. We didn't make them here.

[Gray]

SD1's were great loved them had several V8's and never had any real problems even the rubbish build quality that they got labled with was not an issue, a bit of rust later on around the edges but not many UK cars avoided that at that time. However if they had any other engine in the range forget it.

[Spider]

I think (but could be wrong) that all the later Rovers we got were V8's. I didn't know that they fitted other engines.

I just saw on the news that Ford is about to cease manufacturing here in Aust. The have been manufacturing here since the early 20's. I am a bit of a Ford fan but it will have serious knock on effects, especially with the component manufacturers. We only have Holden (GM) and Toyota left and I fear that they will also be adversely affected by this.

Apologies solomorris, we have strayed somewhat from the original topic!

[goff]

Spider they fitted smaller engines and they had camshaft troubles, as gray says no problem with the V8 , But i am sure the engine was built under licence from the Americans, I had one SD Turbo ( Diesel ) It was fitted with a VM motor ,Italian made ,Looked like a lister 4 cylinder solid block 4 separate heads, I could write a book about the faults with the car including the engine, My wife says if you buy another Rover i will divorce you, Cheaper to stay married.

Sorry to hear about Ford stopping production, They stopped making the Transit Van over hear or going to stop and moving the plant to Turkey !Somebody gave them a multimillion dollar loan to move.

The Allegro had a Square steering wheel, What a joke, Then we had the Princes Ha,Ha.
regards
Goff

[Tim]

Aussie marinas were all either 4 cylinder E series 1750 or a few rare ones that used the same 2623cc 6 cylinder E series as the P76. That would have been an interesting handful to drive, I imagine. I've had a few Marina experiences over the years - lets just say they weren't great cars (sorry Jan-Ivar).

Tim

[carbon]

The 41238 25D4 dizzy is a good one to use in a fast road 1275. I was used in 1300GTs and also I believe MG1300s.

It has 12deg of centrifugal advance at the dizzy = 24 degrees at the crank so can be set with about 6-8 deg static advance depending on your spec. Depending on the motor the light primary spring may also need to be swapped for a slightly heavier one to avoid pinking at about 1500-2000rpm