mallory distributor, any experiences?

[drak ula]

just curious if any of you have tried a mallory distributor in your tvr v8 either the twin contact type or the unilite electronic ignition type and if so what are your experiences of it compared to standard lucas or any other dizzy and how does it cope with high revs (over 5.5k as my nck engined car is very revvy and supposed to be good for 6.5k safely) and also let me know if you do use a mallory what the rest of your system is, what coil, what leads, what plugs etc. efi or carb etc... just curious as am looking to make my car as good and reliable as possible. mine runs a holley carb and at the moment some no name coil but i have a used bosch to try.

[tr7v8]

Used a mallory twin point with a lucas sports coil on my TR7 v8. Aside from a dodgy batch of condensers which failed & an issue where the points solder tag contacted the baseplate on high vacuum it was OK. Mine was low reving with a mild cam. Better than the Landie electronic that came out of it, I'm not too sure.

[drak ula]

thanks, and i am guessing your tr7 was carbed, not efi?
if right would that have been twin SUs or a 4 barrel? cheers

tr7v8 said:

Used a mallory twin point with a lucas sports coil on my TR7 v8. Aside from a dodgy batch of condensers which failed & an issue where the points solder tag contacted the baseplate on high vacuum it was OK. Mine was low reving with a mild cam. Better than the Landie electronic that came out of it, I'm not too sure.

[pk500]

My 500 chim is running a mallery much better and reliable than the one I took out !

[tr7v8]

drak ula said:

thanks, and i am guessing your tr7 was carbed, not efi?
if right would that have been twin SUs or a 4 barrel? cheers

tr7v8 said:

Used a mallory twin point with a lucas sports coil on my TR7 v8. Aside from a dodgy batch of condensers which failed & an issue where the points solder tag contacted the baseplate on high vacuum it was OK. Mine was low reving with a mild cam. Better than the Landie electronic that came out of it, I'm not too sure.

Yes it was. Iffy 360 manifold and Weber/Edelbrook 500 4 barrel. If you go this route make sure you use the correct dizzy vacuum port.

[drak ula]

thanks, yes my car was already running offy 360 manifold and holley 390 carb, though i intend to swap the manifold for the better flowing edelbrock performer if i like the car when it is running right. cheers.

tr7v8 said:

Yes it was. Iffy 360 manifold and Weber/Edelbrook 500 4 barrel. If you go this route make sure you use the correct dizzy vacuum port.

[drak ula]

ahhh, that's very interesting. and which one? the twin points type or electronic type? and what do you rev your beast to? i imagine a 500 is lower revving than the 3905? and what is the rest of the set up? coil? leads? plugs? and are you still on efi or carb? love to see under the bonnet pics ;-)
cheers

pk500 said:

My 500 chim is running a mallery much better and reliable than the one I took out !

[GV]

I run a Mallory Unlite. A great upgrade very reliable and robust, Here's a few pointers/tips

1. Make sure you wire up the Earth directly to the Battery Negative. A poor Earth will blow the module.

2. You will need the Rover V8 oil pump drive gear.

3. You will need a top rated coil and ballasted resistor.

4. Upgrade your HT leads (Think twice about using Magnecors) to get the best performance.

5 Run your 12v lead directly from the ignition switch.

[Boosted LS1]

I've used a Unilite as well. It was versatile from a tuning aspect and very reliable. It was also on my TR8 . I'd certainly use one again. I agree with the post above regarding the optical sensor and a good earth. If you were to burn out the sensor replacements are available.

I wouldn't bother with the twin points version.

[GV]

drak ula said:

thanks, yes my car was already running offy 360 manifold and holley 390 carb, though i intend to swap the manifold for the better flowing edelbrock performer if i like the car when it is running right. cheers.

tr7v8 said:

Yes it was. Iffy 360 manifold and Weber/Edelbrook 500 4 barrel. If you go this route make sure you use the correct dizzy vacuum port.

I went for Offy Dual Plane Manifold as it sits lower in the Wedge. I think the Edelbrock may be a little high. There's plenty of posts about having to drill an extra hole on the Eddelbrock to prevent an airlock on RV8s. No such problem with the Offy Dual Plane. The other thing to note is your jet setup on the Carb. IMO the Edelbrock carb/Unilite setup is a great upgrade for the DIY mechanic like me. Easier to fix and to fettle than EFi without any noticeable drop in power.

The other thing I did was to re-route my coolant plumbing using a Merc W126 header tank - no cooling issues what so ever.

[drak ula]

thanks, that's very interesting. would you tell me more about your coolant re-routing, explaining fully, pictures would help. i have already done one small reroute myself moving the heater hose that runs under the inlet manifold away from the engine all together and running it from the bulkhead hole straight along the inner wing and then round to the front of the engine so much smoother router with less tight bends and less joins with potential to leak.

GV said:

I went for Offy Dual Plane Manifold as it sits lower in the Wedge. I think the Edelbrock may be a little high. There's plenty of posts about having to drill an extra hole on the Eddelbrock to prevent an airlock on RV8s. No such problem with the Offy Dual Plane. The other thing to note is your jet setup on the Carb. IMO the Edelbrock carb/Unilite setup is a great upgrade for the DIY mechanic like me. Easier to fix and to fettle than EFi without any noticeable drop in power.

The other thing I did was to re-route my coolant plumbing using a Merc W126 header tank - no cooling issues what so ever.