The V8 Owners Forum -

I have my old 35DE8 distributor that I had on my 3.5 for 30 years !
I never had any trouble with it but I know it wont do a proper job on my new 4.6, any ideas what is best to use ?

I had a mallory on mine for years,
But recently went to a MSD,IMHO a far better dizzy,better quality,and easy to set up
You would need the MSD ignition box to work with this,

Devonrod wrote:I have my old 35DE8 distributor that I had on my 3.5 for 30 years !
I never had any trouble with it but I know it wont do a proper job on my new 4.6, any ideas what is best to use ?

Get rid and go programmable wasted spark. EDIS and MegaSquirt or MegaJolt is probably the easiest.
If you go the MS route, gives you the option to use it for injection too later.

The issue may well be that the 4.6 does not normally use a dizzy therefore there is no way to fit one. Having said that my 4.6 uses a dizzy because the front cover is off an old 3.5 SD1.

In my humble the Lucas stuff is adequate and that's all it is. I spent ages modifying the standard Lucas stuff to get the advance curve that I wanted, including the static and all in advance. I then modified the dizzy again so that it looks stock from the outside but inside it now runs and MSD pickup, the bob weights have gone, I basically run a locked out dizzy with a programmable MSD, the difference in performanec between the Lucas stuff and the MSD is shocking!

Thanks for all the replies, I am using the SD1 timing cover off my old engine, I like the look of a distributor, so I want to keep it, but I know I need to modify it to get the best out of the 4.6, I just wondered if there was one available that does the right job ?

So you also changed the cam from the 4.6 cam to one that runs a dizzy?

Garry

Devonrod wrote:Thanks for all the replies, I am using the SD1 timing cover off my old engine, I like the look of a distributor, so I want to keep it, but I know I need to modify it to get the best out of the 4.6, I just wondered if there was one available that does the right job ?

"The right job".....that's the thing, your dizzy will work and it will do an OK job but if its the right job depends on the state of tune of your engine along with other things like the type of fuel system that you are running, EFI, SU's, Edelbrock 500, Holley etc. (If and how you use the vac advance is effected by this).

As a rough guide you will probably want around 12-16 degrees of static advance and 28-30 degrees all in at 2750-3000 RPM.

With some effort any dizzy can be modified to give the above figures.

Yes have a Crane 216 cam that I bought in the USA in 1989 !
It looks like I am going to have to mess with the one I have Sidecar (thanks) I just wondered if there was an easy new dissy fix, its never that easy, the powerspark man on Ebay says he can make a 35D LM8
" specifically matched to suit your vehicle" ! I don't know if these are any good or if he can do a 4.6 spec.

Contacted the Powerspark Ebay man, he says he can do a 4.6 one £25 more than advertised.

If I was you I'd ask him what are the actual differences betweeen his 4.6 dizzy and a 'normal' one. I would actually want to know the details. If he just says the advance curve is different but does not tell you in what respect it is different I'd be a little bit wary!

I was thinking that ! ive since heard a rumour that these dissys are made in china and not a lot of good, so I think I will play with my old one.

Devonrod wrote:I was thinking that ! ive since heard a rumour that these dissys are made in china and not a lot of good, so I think I will play with my old one.

I've stripped quite a few old Lucas dizzies to make stumpy drives, and they're generally good as regards the main bearings and so on. So if you can find the correct springs and bits to give you the advance you want, I'd say that the best option.

The distributor that I use in my 4.6 was regraphed so as to operate correctly with that engine.

Ron.

My 3.5 p6 engine with a distributor and Lumenition probably wasn't the best option performance-wise but it worked well enough for me.
I'm rebuilding it as a 4.6 using the p6 cover/distributor/Lumenition and springs from the set that Real Steel sell because I want it looking close to original.
I'm pretty sure this distributor mod was covered on here somewhere?

The last dizzy Lucas made for the RV8 was the DLM - the one with the amp on its body. It's a very well made high spec unit - the only problem being the amp can get too hot and fail. However, the last versions moved the amp to somewhere cooler. No reason why you can't do the same with the earlier one - just use twin screened cable between the VR sensor and amp.