I just located one of those Holden distributors and had a close look at it. Well, it's not a billet housing but I must say that I don't think the 600$ Mallory unit I bought is any better. If anything the Holden unit seems to be more "thought through". There's no axial play in the Holden dissy, whereas the Mallory has more than 2 mm (ProComp crap has about 4(!) after just 500 km). The Holden unit has the ignition module outside and therefore allows for a much larger reluctor. Also the distributor finger on the mallory has about 1 degree play, but sits firmly on the Holden unit. Damn I replaced it already and spend $$$ on the Mallory unit. I should have known this earlier.

Edited by user Tuesday, 5 July 2011 7:57:45 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Another bad message. Although everything worked fine for a couple of days, it looks as if things would go wrong again. It starts only after cranking over for 5 rotations. Same as before. So I most likely blew another ignition module. This time the Mallory one which is only 200 dollars. That's great. There must be something else wrong with it. Why am I burning up ignition modules and coils?

Yes - I put the timing light on, adjusted the timing and off it went right away, starting better than a new car. I put the ballast resistor off and on but it made no difference. I left the ballast resister in there as suggested by Mallory. Damn this thing gets hot - you can't touch it after 3 min running the engine.

I drove it around yesterday night all over the place, put about 50 km on it. Starting it maybe 20 times. I realized she's getting harder to start at the end. Thought it's the battery. But battery was charged over night. Today in the morning the starting trouble went worse, and I'm sure after a couple more kilometers she won't start anymore at all. Damn! What is wrong here I could hang myself. It just can't be.

If I leave the ballast switch out / bridge it as you said it's the same deal. Doesn't work any better.

Edited by user Tuesday, 5 July 2011 10:34:11 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

no chance the carby was tuned with the old faulty ignition or anything like that?

Dr Terry: I got an original Holden distributor here. Almost brand new. I also got a Bosch coil here, almost brand new. If I put those units in and take the Mallory units out, I will have another 30 km before either the coil or the ignition module will go bust.

I just got my Mallory active power filter - which may stop blowing the ignition modules.

It says "Made in China" - I thought Mallory was all made in the US??? I think I'm going to take the Mallory stuff out and put the Bosch/Holden distributor and coil in there now.

Thanks again guys for your help,
stefan

Noone here who could help me out with this question?

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Originally posted by Holden1Tonner
Noone here who could help me out with this question?

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follow dr terrys advice & ditch all th crap youve bought & put a blue/black motor bosch electronic unit in, or even an old points dissy. you wont have any more dramas

if you want to know total advance youd need to supply all your motor specs etc, its not something people really want to guess at

also your mechanic may be doing it by feel too, modified the advance bit by bit untill its perfect etc, not something he can just say over the phone

buy why are you that interested at the moment anyway?

personally id just be sticking it in a static advance of 10 or whatever is recommended and adjusting the static advance by feel/driving

again im into fords so i dont know my holdens that well for these kind of things but with ford the static advance recomendation is on the emmisions decal

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Originally posted by Holden1Tonner
and therefore I need to know the exact timing.

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There's no such thing. Factory timing specs are just an overall average with a safety factor. Exact timing will depend on individual engine and will vary with many factors such as wear, components, tolerances, fuel quality, etc. The factory timing figures also used different fuel to what you have now. Timing is part of the "tuning" process,it's not a God number.