Hi Datsun roadster fans,
I'm the seller of the electronic roadster distributor for 1600's and 2000's, on
eBay (the link is far down below in an attached message). In case it matters,
I've been on the roadster list for about 3 years and it's been great. I've
learned a lot from it. I just wanted to provide some credibility to my asking
price for the distributor, since there's a comment on the list that it seems
like
a lot of money for a distributor conversion that you can do yourself for $40. I
think my price is extremely reasonable, considering the info already provided in
the item description, but there's more.
Yes, you might be able to do this conversion yourself. I did not invent this
distributor conversion. I heard about it being done, but never found any
specific
guidelines, other than you need to get a longer screw and a spacer . So I
attempted one for my autocross roadster about 3 years ago.
The links provided below by Chris Robertson for the 510 distributor swap to the
electronic distributor are good. I researched them about 3 years ago before I
tried my first conversion. These site's info, however, is for just dropping in
an
electronic distributor from a later model 510 into an earlier 510. There's no
interchanging of parts involved. The conversion for the roadster is much more
complicated.
My distributor on eBay is the first one I'm selling on eBay of about a dozen
identical distributors that I've built. $225 is a bargain considering a
roadster
vendor (who I won't divulge, out of respect) sells them for $345. It takes
several hours and some $ for parts to build these things. I've put in
countless
hours into trial and error, testing and tuning to perfect the right setup. My
wife kept asking "Why are you spending so much time in the garage lately?"
As far as concerns about the electronic ignition module (the matchbox sized
black
box on the side of the distributor housing, included with my distributor), I
own
a '79 280ZX since new and the module on the electronic roadster distributor is
identical to the one on my Z car. My Z car's module lasted 225,000 miles (the Z
car's at 350,000 miles now) before the module failed. You can get a replacement
module from Nissan for about $165, or get one from a salvaged '79-82 210, 310,
810, or 280ZX and get it bench tested at Napa. Typical salvage yard cost is $5,
so you can get one and carry it in the glove box (for fear of the unlikely
dreaded
black box failure).
The weakest link in this Nissan electronic distributor is the plastic ball
holder
in the vacuum breaker plate assembly. In a salvage yard distributor, you will
find that virtually all of them have broken ball holders. This will cause lots
of
problems with the distributor operation and cause damage to other parts inside.
I
disassemble the breaker assembly and replace the plastic ball holder with teflon
that I cut out, which should last virtually forever. It's not an easy task to
reassemble the breaker assembly.
I can customize the amount of total mechanical advance for you to make it
more/less than the desired 15 degrees (crank advance). I had my Solex 2 liter
chassis dyno'd and learned that, even with 105 octane gasoline, that 35 degrees
total advance makes more power and torque than 40 or 45 degrees total advance.
And my air/ fuel ratio curve was virtually perfect throughout the entire rpm
range
on this dyno test. So based on my dyno tests, it seems there's no need to have
more than 15 degrees of crank advance.
This distributor change requires that you install a 12 volt coil and that you
remove or bypass the ballast resistor. This doubles the continuous voltage to
the
coil windings and you will get a much stronger voltage at the spark plugs.
Therefore, you can widen your spark plug gap to take full advantage of the
upgrade.
I put a lot of time and effort into these distributors, to make them
cosmetically
appealing, but more importantly, mechanically and electronically sound. I want
them to be right the first time and for the long term. I hope that a potential
buyer can respect this product and my asking price for my efforts, time and
quality assurance.
If anyone would like my installation instructions for this distributor, let me
know. I can email it to you. It's a MS Word document with graphics and good
info
on theory of operation.
I encourage anyone mechanically inclined to try this conversion. If you're very
lucky, you'll get it right the first time. If not and you've used your running
roadster's distributor to do it, you've potentially caused yourself a lot of
problems. Good luck trying to figure out whether to use the roadster
distributor
parts (and which ones) or A series parts in the guts of the conversion. Also if
the housing needs new bushings, good luck finding replacements and installing
them.
Granted I'm not a roadster vendor, but in the unlikely event that help is needed
with this distributor installation, I will provide it by email or phone.
Hope you all have a good holiday weekend.
Gary Boone
Chris Robertson wrote:
> Well, that's true. I enjoy doing all my own mechanical work even though it
> would be "cheaper" to hire a mechanic when considering the time spent. It
> certainly depends on the individual and I'm sorry if I didn't appreciate
> Gary Boone's effort and time spent on these Dizzy conversions in my original
> reply.
>
> BTW, for those do-it-yourselfers out there, be sure to check out these
> links:
>
> http://home.att.net/~jason510/Dizzy_FAQ.htm
> http://home.att.net/~jason510/dizzy_specs.htm
>
> Chris
>
> >From: "Eric Frisbee" <efris@home.com>
> >To: "Chris Robertson" <ckrobertson@hotmail.com>,
> ><datsun-roadsters@autox.team.net>
> >Subject: Re: Datsun Roadster Electronic Distributor on Ebay
> >Date: Sat, 1 Sep 2001 13:42:07 -0600
> >
> >Well Chris... I don't know what else to say other than... Good luck and
> >have fun building one!
> >I got to see first hand how much time and effort went into building ONE of
> >these. First question I always ask is... what is my time worth? Well,
> >my time wasn't worth spending 8-10 hours trying to build that distributor.
> >If you got the time, go for it! Personally, I'd rather be out there
> >DRIVING my car for hours, rather than working on a greasy old junkyard
> >distributor....
> >
> >Eric
> >
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: Chris Robertson <ckrobertson@hotmail.com>
> >To: <efris@home.com>; <datsun-roadsters@autox.team.net>
> >Sent: Saturday, September 01, 2001 1:22 PM
> >Subject: Re: Datsun Roadster Electronic Distributor on Ebay
> >
> >
> > > Seems like a lot of money for something you can do yourself for $40
> >worth
> >of
> > > junkyard parts.
> > >
> > >
> > > >From: "Eric Frisbee" <efris@home.com>
> > > >Reply-To: "Eric Frisbee" <efris@home.com>
> > > >To: <datsun-roadsters@autox.team.net>
> > > >Subject: Datsun Roadster Electronic Distributor on Ebay
> > > >Date: Sat, 1 Sep 2001 08:35:02 -0600
> > > >
> > > >Hey Gang!
> > > >
> > > > This is a shameless plug for what I consider to be one of
> >the
> > > >best
> > > >modifications you can do to your roadster! Gary Boone, WyCROCer,
> >SCCA
> > > >Solo 2 racer, mechanical engineer, and all around roadster nut has
> >modified
> > > >a number of newer Nissan distributors for use in our beloved Datsun
> > > >roadsters! They are on Ebay at
> > >
> > >http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/aw-cgi/ebayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=594943221
> >&
> > > >r=0&t=0. It kinda looks like he went VERY indepth in his
> >description
> >of
> > > >the distributors (typical engineer.. haha!).
> > > >
> > > >So far, three WyCROCers have these distributors on our cars... myself,
> >Dan
> > > >Neff, and Donald Swenson. Two more will be installed shortly. Any
> > > >questions as to performance, please write and ask!
> > > >
> > > >Eric
> > > >WyCROC
> > >
> > >
> > > _________________________________________________________________
> > > Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at
> >http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp
> > >
> >
>
> _________________________________________________________________
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