Help Please - Mallory Distributor on Rover V8

[Chris_N]

I've been having some ignition problems on the 3.5L SD1 Rover V8 in my kit car, and know they have notoriously unreliable distributors so at the weekend invested in a Mallory Dual Point dizzy along with new coil and ballast resistor.

Now I'm afraid to say I'm not sure how to wire everything up!

I'm currently using the old SD1 ballast resistor with six connections to it. Not sure how the new ballast resistor (a simple two connection jobby) can replace it? Do I wire it in as well, in series in the feed to the coil positive? Or do I leave some connections on the old ballast resistor and move some over to the new one?

Anyone ever done this swap or know what I need to do? Sorry if this is a bit of a dumb question but any help gratefully appreciated.

Thanks,
Chris

[deltaf]

Ooooh thats an awkward question.
Ive only got the single points ballast reistor diagram that relates to all engines here.
From what i see of it, the ballast resistor goes in series with the coil and gets bypassed by the starter switch when starting.
Dunno why ya got six connections.
Maybe if you have digital camera you could put a few pics up so we can see what were talking about?
Hope this helps a little.

[GreenV8S]

Six connectors sounds strange, I would agree you would expect a simple resister in series with the coil that is bypassed when the starter is on. I wonder, if it is an injected car you would have an injector ballast reistor for each bank, is it possible that all three resisters have been combined into a single package?

I would have thought the new dizzy would come with a basic wiring diagram, if all else fails leave the existing ballast bits as is and wire in the Mallory dizzy with its independant separate ballasted supply.

[incorrigible]

Agree, 6 connectors sounds odd, like it's not the balast resistor

I thought that 2 sets of points needed 2 sets of condensers and 2 coils, although I've only seen this on "wasted spark" systems (no dizzy)

Unless the points open at the same time (can't remember, been ages since I had a Mallory apart) in which case you'd wire the points in in parallel then in series with the condenser (or are there 2*) and resistor

* guess, wire the condensors into the points then the condensors in parrallel to the resistor and coil in series

[Chris_N]

Thanks for the ideas guys. Can't get to the car right now to take a digital pic but I've dug out my old SD1 Haynes manual and tried to decipher the wiring diagram. Seems like the six connections on the old SD1 ballast resistor module are to starter motor, ignition switch and tacho on one side of the module. And on the other side there's one to the coil positive, one to the coil negative and distributor, plus another one to the distributor.

I presume the two connections to the SD1 distributor are to do with it being a (crappy) electronic system. The new Mallory one only has a single connection to it to presumably one of the existing wires becomes redundant.

Any more ideas gratefully received. I'm also trying to see if I can get hold of someone at Real Steel (who sold me the bits) who knows how to fit it but so far no luck.

Chris

[incorrigible]

Had a bit of a think

Why on earth are you using points rather than an electronic ignition

I'd get the proper mallory elec ignition

[Chris_N]

Fair point! I went for the Mallory dual points because I have read lots of stuff about it being well proven in various Hi-Power Rover V8 engines, including some drag cars. Mallory do however do an all electronic version as you suggest (about an extra £100 IIRC - which would be OK) but I've not heard much about it one way or the other.

Wondering now whether I should have gone that route in the first place. Maybe I could still swap it, the one I bought hasn't gone in the car yet.

With my skills (or rather lack of) i'll probably still manage to struggle with the wiring though!

Chris

[incorrigible]

You should be OK on an exchange, and elec ignition would be much easier IMHO

Not so sure about the drag racing refference, decent drag cars use magnetos AFAIK

Still, best of luck

[Chris_N]

incorrigible said: Not so sure about the drag racing refference, decent drag cars use magnetos AFAIK

The serious (mega-BHP) stuff does certainly use Magnetos. Lots of street/strip Rover and Yank engined stuff still relies on good old fashioned distributors though.

Chris