6 replies to this topic

[jayh29]

Hi,

I have found the screw fixing for the points has a cross thread, and after many attempts it wont quite lock up, suspect its moving when it should not, causing some rough running. Its a Ducellier and after much reading it seems there not liked much,

Car is an 1983 City e Auto,

If I'm right (and in Haynes) its say's the Lucas 45d should fit, would that be correct?

Many thanks

Jay.

[Ethel]

Lucas 59, but yes they are interchangeable. You could try retapping the hole to a bigger size and/or fitting an electronic conversion kit, but Lucas dizzies are much more common - for future parts availability. Try and get one off a comparable engine that matches the advance curve.

[tiger99]

Yes, and throw that Ducellier as far away as possible! They were utter trash, for some strange reason, as I imagine that to stay in business most of Ducellier's products must have been of reasonable quality, but their Mini distributors were really, really bad. They were common around 1983-1984, and my 1984 City E had one, and various other electrical parts from strange sources, even a flasher unit from Canada, so I suspect that perhaps Lucas had a strike or some other problem that affected supply of the usual bits.

 

The Distributor Doctor can overhaul or recondition a Lucas, regardless of how bad it may be, so they are a much better prospect for the future.

[KernowCooper]

80s Renos had them as well and they were the same, the shafts bearing wears until the points gap is all over th place. Get a Lucas is the way forward

[Ben_O]

I have just finished re-furbing my ducellier dizzy for my 25.

are they really that bad? 

[KernowCooper]

They are not the best distributors out there and I would use a Lucas in preference, but if you have no shaft play and its able to maintain a constant points gap then its certainly useable

[tiger99]

Maybe if it has been overhauled, it will have had replacement bearings, of better quality than the originals? I don't think they could possibly be any worse.....

 

And yes, it was bearings, and totally erratic points gap, and massive timing jitter, which caused me to dump a not very old Ducellier. The other problem, which I think was intended by the designer to be a useful feature, was that the vacuum advance mechanism caused one contact to move laterally over the face of the other, which, you may imagine, would spread the wear and erosion, but instead it resulted in rough running and the need to change the points more often that was needed for Joe Lucas and his straight face to face points.