locking distributor weights

[smithy]

does anyone know how or has done this?
in setting up the EFI system on my 186 i need to remove vac advance (done) and lock the weights in the electronic distributor to stop any sort of mechanical advance ( the ECU will take care of this) what is the best way to do this, i have been told conflicting stories, my question is
do i tack the weights closed, open, half way or can i remove them completely?
does the rotor have to be set at TDC position before i weld ?

any advice or tips would be fantastic.

cheers
dean

[Ed]

i dont know 100% Dean, but the weights normally swing out therefore providing advance as the weight move out.

If you just need a static setting, it wouldn't matter which position they would be in.

The ECU is set at 10 deg advance, so it will assume your dizzy is in this position.

so you ground your ALDL, and set the timing marks on the crank as usual to 10 degrees advance.  once this is done set and forget, the dizzy wont advance now either since it is tacked in one position.

HTH

Cheers

Ed

[Effie C]

Dean the distributor has two springs fitted to the counter weights this are there to stop the centrifugal advance from just swinging straight to full advance a soon as the distributor turns if you remove the springs and fit solid links instead so that the weights no longer can swing out this will in effect nullify your centrifugal advance without actual destroying the distributor.

[EffCee]

Not sure why you would want to lock up your advance unless you had access to a dyno. If you do have acces to a dyno then you would need to have your distruibutor locked up so that the advance curve could be correctly plotted across the rev range. Once you have obtained the varying advance curve to suit your particular engine then you would need access to a distributor scope to replicate the figures obtained by having the locked up distributor onto the distributor intended for use in the vehicle. This is done by changing springs, adding or removing weight from the distributor advance weights. You can set the mechanical advance without a dyno but you would need a dyno to put the motor under varying load to ensure that combined vacuum and mechanical advance do not exceed your total maximum advance

[Ed]

EFI dizzy requires no advance as the ECU and trigger module thinks it out for you.

[EffCee]

AAHH the light comes on. I re read the post and I didn't click with the EFI. I was thinking that the distributor was being converted to an electronic (breakerless) unit.

[Ed]

AAHH the light comes on. I re read the post and I didn't click with the EFI. I was thinking that the distributor was being converted to an electronic (breakerless) unit.

 figured you missed that bit 

good reply on how the advance works tho.

[smithy]

thanks for that Ed, i also found out fortunately ( i had a sinking feeling of this ) that i have to remove the control module that is normally housed in the electronic dissy and run the 2 wires from the stator to the camira ignition module, otherwise nasty things couldve happened
ah the joys of modification  wasnt it you that convinced me that converting to EFI would be simple
once its all done and dusted i know i will be better off though.

cheers
dea

[Ed]

Dean I have an exploded view of an EFI dizzy if that helps?

one thing I believe is to just tackle one job at a time and before you know it, it's done!

can't wait to see the finished product.. a red with a proper tunable EFI system.

Cheers

Ed

[smithy]

cheers for that Ed, i have been asking a few questions on the Kalmaker forum and got pretty much everything i needed to know so the dissy is now done.
the only thing left for me to do now is to decide wether or not to completely remove the old module housing on the side of the distributor or to just leave it empty. the camira ignition will be placed on the firewall partially hidden behind the head.
one bit of handy advice i did recieve from the forum was to place another aluminum heatsink under the module as they do generate a lot of heat.
i have to wait until i can start the engine to find out if the wires leading to the ignition module are in the correct order, if i get a funny missfire when starting the car i just have to reverse these two wires. Simple as that