I have been in contact with Rocky Sherer of PerTronix. He has been very
helpful and admits there is a problem with the mounting of the LU-142-A in
the Lucas 25D distributor on the Alpine. I am including his reply.
I hope we get this problem resolved soon, I feel there is no better
product on the market that improves the performance of Our Sunbeams as much
as the PerTronix Ignitor.
Dear Ed,
It was nice to talk with you again. Im not sure if your
readers are interested in a brief history of the Ignitor kit for the Lucas
25D distributor or not. It seems appropriate to me and therefore Ill take
a minute to outline the history of the kit. The 25D distributor has a few
features that make it an interesting one to fit. One is the post that
happens to be different heights depending on which 25D that you have and the
other being that the best position for the module happens to be right on top
of the threaded hole used to hold the points in place. Most of our 100+ kit
designs use the points screw to secure the Ignitor to the base plate.
Given the design of the 25D distributor, our first kit, the LU-142, used the
condensers screw hole to secure the Ignitors base plate. We began to
receive a moderate amount of phone calls from customers expressing that they
were uncomfortable with using the condensers screw hole since it was small
and off to one side. There was another problem relating to some after
market rotors that were shaped a little different than the original and
were rubbing on the module. In order to solve both of these problems, we
developed the LU-142A kit with two major changes. One, use a small module
(that we had recently developed) and, two, change the design to a detachable
module, that would also allow the use of the points screw hole for securing
the base plate. With the use of the detachable module the afore mentioned
post became a problem. We found that by moving the location of the module
15 degrees we could avoid the post and everything would be fine. We were
even happier with the phasing of the kit since the firing moved away from
the outer edge and into the middle of what amounts to a rotor with a very
large sweep. We made this change and introduced the LU-142A about three
years ago and have literally sold several thousand of these kits. Just
recently, weve begun receiving calls from Alpine owners complaining that
the 15 degree of timing adjustment is not possible since the vacuum advance
will get hung-up while adjusting and does not allow the distributor to be
turned far enough to achieve proper timing. Apparently, some enthusiasts
have installed their distributor 180 degrees backwards, which works fine for
performance, but looks rather odd! I think that represents the problem in
more detail than you probably bargained for (sorry).
Ed, we here at PerTronix are interested in our kits being designed properly
and providing years of trouble free service. There are two ways that we can
solve the dilemma that has been outlined above. The first would be to offer
the LU-142 kit as an alternative to the LU-142A. The second, and the option
that we plan to pursue, is to have a new mold made for the magnet sleeve
that will locate the magnets 15 degrees from where they are now and will
bring the location of the timing back even with the timing location of the
points. We estimate this mold for a new sleeve will be ready in 90-120
days. We will offer a free magnet sleeve swap to anybody who previously
purchased the LU-142A kit.
I hope this helps, if you need any additional info let me know.
Rocky
PerTronix
.
You can contact Rocky Sherer at rsherer@pertronix.com
Update: Rocky has sent me a modified kit to test. I have installed it and
it works GREAT with no adjustment problems. The new magnet sleeve should be
available soon.
Cool Cat Eddie ,1 S3 GT,3 S4's, 2 S5's, 2 MK1 Tigers
Deep South Rep TE/AE
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