Rover V8 Distributor/Ignition Choices

Draughtsman · Post by **Draughtsman** » Sun Apr 08, 2012 6:32 pm

Hi all, Well I'm nearly at the stage where I can think about firing up my new engine but
I would like advice on what dizzy/ignition setup would be best.
Its a 4.0 Rover V8, unleaded heads, Edelbrock 500 carb, P6 timing cover coupled to a BW35.
I have a Lucas 35DE8 dizzy, but no coil, no ballast resistor, no amp, all I have is just the dizzy.
Is it possible to buy the rest of the kit to make this dizzy work, or best to sell it on & but a complete setup
in one go?
Whats the best choice for reliability for everyday street running, dont intend to race the car at all.
I find all the multiple choices confusing

Cheers, Lee

mgbv8 · Post by **mgbv8** » Sun Apr 08, 2012 7:46 pm

if you dont mind spending the money for a long term solution that will last for years then I would suggest a mallory unilite dissy with MSD blaster 2 coil and ballast resistor.
The Unilite has a magnetic trigger module and is a great item. I fitted this combo to my MGB V8 about 8 years ago and did shed loads of road miles before taking the car off the road to Drag Race it. It still uses the same setup but now runs a supercharger and nitrous. Its a bloody good all round setup in my opinion. You could also use the Mallory unilite with optical trigger module like my Son uses on his drag car. He uses the same coil and resistor setup.

You will be looking at around £280 for the dissy, £20 for the resistor and about £50 for the coil. Not that cheap. But it will last a long long time.

Muscle-Manta · Post by **Muscle-Manta** » Sun Apr 08, 2012 7:54 pm

The DE8 dizzy is also known as the Opus dizzy. The amp is internal so you don't need anything else. However the nick name given to the Opus was "The hopeless". I can only speculate the spark wasn't big enough!

Before I went to an MSD setup I used a DM8 with a remote amp. I would say this is the best Rover setup. The other Rover dizzy is the DLM8 this has the amp bolted to the side of the dizzy. As far as I know there were a few problems with these. The amp used to fail. Rover went back to a remote amp for the last of the Discovery's with dizzys installed.

There is a thread on here titled "Rover V8 ignition upgrade" (It's a sticky) in which the DM8 dizzy is used with an after market amp.

DaveEFI · Post by **DaveEFI** » Mon Apr 09, 2012 9:50 am

I've had my SD1 EFI from near new, and that had the DLM dizzy with the amp on the side. It failed twice in some 150,000 miles. However, it's easy to change the amp at the roadside so you could carry a spare.

Judging by the posts on the SD1 club forum, the earlier DM type is no more reliable, and much more tricky to troubleshoot than the DLM. And many have had problems with the various Mallorys.

If I were going back to a dizzy, a DLM with spare amp would be my choice.

ChrisJC · Post by **ChrisJC** » Mon Apr 09, 2012 9:55 am

In my opinion, a standard Rover setup is best. The one with the ignition amplifier on the side of the distributor is easiest:

Just make sure the amplifier has heatsink compound between it and the distributor body to get the heat out, and it'll be good.

Chris.

martyn123 · Post by **martyn123** » Mon Apr 09, 2012 10:37 am

Megajolt and dump the distributor in the bin ?

Martyn...

Eliot · Post by **Eliot** » Mon Apr 09, 2012 12:40 pm

Just make sure you avoid a Mallory dual point at all costs. They chew condensors and aren't actually any more reliable that what it replaced.

mgbv8 · Post by **mgbv8** » Mon Apr 09, 2012 3:24 pm

Robrover · Post by **Robrover** » Tue Apr 10, 2012 8:11 am

I used the Opus dissy on my SD1 with a lumenition kit fitted for many years and it never faulted (unlike the original). The (remote) amp on my Discovery's OEM Lucas distributor also packed up.

There are a growing number of aftermarket distributors now available for the RV8 - several different types from Mallory, MSD, Accel, Pertronix,123 Ignition, Davis Unified Ignition to name a few (Summit has pages of them). Then there’s the various GM/Buick HEI distributors that can be adapted to fit.

There's also these being sold on eBay
http://www.simonbbc.com/distributors/8c ... d60ad75c80

I’m now running the Aussie built custom advance Scorcher distributor made by Performance Ignitions in Melbourne using mostly Bosch Holden/ Falcon parts, all easily obtainable and very cheap here. I’ve got one in my Disco too. Fit and forget, they just keep on going and if anything did ever go wrong, say in outback OZ, well every garage in the country carries the parts for them (unlike Lucas stuff).