Distributor Query

[ChrisH]

Hi, have had Bea set up by our excellent local garage, as all my garage tools are in France, the mechanic was really chuffed to be working on her, was very complimentary about her which was pleasing. She is now running just as we remembered R4's running. The main problem was in setting up the dwell and timing and clearing a bit of dirt from the carb it seems.

However, the one worry for the future is that the distributor is quite worn and a new or reconditioned one will be needed sometime in the future. The engine is the 845 TL, type 800-05, distributor curve R284. The distributor does not have the vacuum advance, but there is quite some slack on rotation of the main shaft, far more than would be expected, apparently.

Does anyone know:
Where a new one could be bought - all the ones I see seem to be for the GTL, or
Where a reconditioned one could be bought, or
How difficult is it to recondition it oneself? (which would open up another 'how is it done?' thread).

ChrisH

 

[nicky4tl]

ebay.fr could be useful.

There is an r287d83 for sale there at the moment which is i believe the distributor for the 845cc with vacuum advance. I wonder would this work?

http://www.ebay.fr/itm/ALLUMEUR-NEU...tDomain_71&hash=item43b73b83dd#ht_1690wt_1142

 

[ade]

dizzy

Chris, i've just been setting up the dizzy on my 845TL also....it too has a massive amount of play in the centre shaft, far more than other old cars i have, but it runs like a sewing machine...and, as long as you strobe it when setting up, it may not matter too much, as the gear slop will be nullified
what is also rubbish on these is the pivot on the adjusting clamp, which on mine was so sloppy that you could rotate the dizzy quite a bit with it fully clamped...i fitted a close tolerance clevis pin which has reduced the slop

have you enquired whether the 1-2-3 is available for these?

Adrian

 

[ChrisH]

Thanks for the replies.

nicky4tl - I looked at that distributor but it has the wrong curve (I think!) and has, as you say, a vacuum advance which I have no connection for,

Adrian - not heard of 123 Distributors before. Looks like a really neat idea, unfortunately, they do not do the R284 curve in their listings under Renault. However, having now looked closer at the distributor, or rather a more detailed drawing of it, I am not sure much could be done to reduce the slop as the drive appears to be a 'tongue in the slot' type drive. I wonder if it really is wear, or were they always sloppy by nature of the design? Anyway, like yours she is running like a sewing machine now, so if it ain't broke don't fix it as they say. I agree, if the timing is done by strobe the slop will be taken up by the drive, the front of the slot will always be pushing on the back of the tongue as it were, so it should work fine, no problems. I will leave it for now and see how it gets on. Do you use the 6 degree advance as specified, or a little less? I read somewhere that you could do a little less given the improvements in modern fuel. Bea is set up with the 6 deg specified.

Chris

 

[ade]

dizzy

Chris, just keep advancing it a bit at a time until it starts pinking, then back it off the least amount....and set points gap by setting dwell angle....Adrian