From: WSpohn4@aol.com <WSpohn4@aol.com>
>In a message dated 21/09/98 3:28:03 PM EST, boballen@sky.net writes:
>
><< If you only want a single answer, join a religon.
>
>**A gratuitous and irrelevant comment.
Bill, it's good to see we're both being consistent.
>>> I said:
> Here is another vote for the Mallory Dual Point. Mine is running just
great on my 3-liter C motor and I wouldn't trade it for a Lucas or one of
the electronic gizmos. I find the distributor well made, easily adjustable,
easy parts availablility, and a great period performance accessory. <<<
>>>You said:
>**I never said that they didn't work adequately, but it is by no means a
performance accessory in the sense that it improves performance over the
stock distributor. It is more along the lines of the ersatz performance
image given by an alloy valve cover - it impresses those that don't know any
better. <<<
Oooh yes. An alloy valve cover. That's another one of my favorites. Besides
the obvious babe appeal, it also provides a good machined surface to glue on
the cork gasket. The stiff sides provide a good place to clonk it with a
rawhide hammer to remove for the next valve adjustment. The stiff top means
that you don't have to worry about flattening the cover if you put more than
a few pounds on the hold down bolts. The flat top provides a nice place to
lay the spark plugs when your doing a carb check. And the casting tends to
absorb some of the tappet racket.
But, yes, some know better. If the original tin covers were stamped out for
a shilling a wagon load 40 years ago, then that's the only intelligent thing
to have on your car.
>>> Bill said:
>You seemed to have posted your response wanting to make some point about
the Mallory distributor, but aside from a statement that said that you
haven't had any trouble with your distributor, a claim completely consistent
with my original post, you don't seem to have added a thing to the
discussion. I assume that if you had any concrete evidence that the Mallory
was in any way superior to the Lucas part, you would have had no difficulty
articulating that opinion. <<<
Are we having a discussion Bill? Okay, the Mallory has this big red cap that
coordinates with my spark plug wires and also comes with this cool decal for
the side window of the GT. Hows that for gratuitous?
Take a couple of deep breaths and re-read the original post. Yep, I had the
adacity to suggest that I thought it was well made. Purely subjective and I
should have backed that up with technical drawings and a metalurgical
report. OTOH, towards the end of my note, I may have mentioned the
adjustability of the timing for both static and total mechanical advance. I
think that is a pretty cool feature, Bill, and suggest it adds to the
discussion.
>>> Bill said:
>As for parts availability, my friend with a race car would disagree - when
he had the Mallory foul up at the track, there were no available parts at
any nearby store, and of the dozen or so BMC cars running that weekend, none
of them had a Mallory to offer spares. <<<
So how did that conversation go, Bill? Perhaps:
"Say, my Mallory is giving me trouble today do you have any spares?"
"Absolutly not! That is not the orignal design."
"Oh, okay, sorry to bother you."
"Well, you may borrow my spare Lucas if you like."
"You mean that wobbly peice crap in the spares box? No thanks, I'd rather
trailer my car and drink a cool one."
>>> Bill said:
>I guess they had all found a source of parts for the Lucas to allow them to
rebuild them to new spec, and didn't feel the need to re-invent the
figurative wheel. <<<
Yeah, I guess so. I imagine a lot of racers are on a first name basis with a
machinist since their choosen hobby is to take a perfectly servicveable
motor, cram as much horesepower into it as they can, and then detonate it
with their right foot. Makes the purist in me shudder.
But, say Bill, as you seem to have been the appointed relevancy expert, how
is your racer story relevant to just about all the people on this list,
anyway? I mean, what does a racer care about distributors? His only concern
is that, at wide open throttle, a spark happens at the right time. So what?
We plebians who drive our cars on the street have a few other requirements.
We expect the car to have the right spark at the right time at idle. We
sorta hope that vacuum advance will give us a smoother motor and a little
better econonmy. We often expect our cars to run 1,000s of miles without
mechnical problems while racers measure longevity in laps. Some of the
performance folk may actually care about total advance to get long term
performance without putting skylights in our pistons. And we actually spend
very little of our time with the throttle to the floor. Midrange performance
is paramont.
So, Bill, what might be the relevancy of your turgid racer clique stories?
--
Bob Allen, Kansas City, '69CGT, '75TR6
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