[alfa] Re: Dead springs on Magnet Marelli advance mechanism?

[Vangelis Kokkevis <vkokkevis@xxxxxxxxx>]

Matt, 
It could be that your distributor shaft or advance
mechanism is dirty or corroded making it hard for the
springs to pull the weights back in when the engine
rpms drop, thus giving you a shorter total advance
curve.  

To check for this condition just remove the
distributor cap and rotate the rotor by hand until you
reach the max advance point (this will put tension on
both springs).  Now take your hand off and let the
spring tension rotate the rotor back.  Check if the
rotor actually rotated all the way back. 

The Marelli-Plex distributors are pretty easy to
disassemble and clean.  Remeber though that they seem
to be notorious for having a short advance curve
anyway so by setting your timing properly for max
advance you will probably get quite a bit of advance
at idle too. 

If you need to have your distributor recurved you
might want to try these guys:

http://www3.telus.net/lusa/

although I suspect that in the long run it might be
more cost effective to just buy a new ignition system.



Cheers,
Vangelis
73 gtv
83 spider





> Anybody know how to replace the springs on the
> advance mechanism for a Magnet Maralli distributor?

> I have a '73 Spider that's been upgraded to a Magnet
> Marelli system, which I think means it has the same
> distributor as an '80 Spider.  The springs 
> on the advance mechanism are shot though, which 
> means that if I have the timing set right for
> maximum advance, the springs don't wind up enough so
> I'm too advanced at idle speed.
>
> Any ideas?  I called IAP and they said my only
> option was a new distributor...

> - - Matt
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