Distributor pickup

[bruced (Bruce Davis)]

Greetings Jag-lovers,

I have ordered a new distributor pickup and it comes with new baseplate (1985 XJS HE) I know the gap needs to be set and have the correct brass feelers. Are there any special tips re the fitting etc. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Beuced

[Aristides (Aristides Balanos)]

I think that the the plug on those modules has the polarity reversed.
IIRC @gregma had gone through this in a recent thread.
Best,
A

[JamesLove (JLo)]

Hi Bruce, fairly straight forward you will find. Not sure what the reverse polarity thing is all about, the way the plug is designed it can usually only go one way.
The only thing that takes time is getting the correct gap and to turn engine while checking each tooth on reluctor wheel. I set mine to .010.

[Aristides (Aristides Balanos)]

@JamesLove

Not sure what the reverse polarity thing is all about, the way the plug is designed it can usually only go one way.

There it is:

Distributor Pick Up Coils - Current Aftermarket Defects

[image] As someone who has recently purchased a new distributor pickup coil for my Lucas system (1988 XJS V12), there was some confusion because the actual plug looks like it will reverse the polarity to the ignition amp (see photo). I think there is only one pick up coil available right now, it has the blue plugs. Not sure who the manufacturer is (possibly Eurospare?) Hooked it up as is, and my engine idles rather nice. Timing was set to 18 BTDC at 3000 rpm, no vacuum advance. Today I tri…

[gregma (Greg (1988 XJ-S V12 Lucas))]

So I bought a new pickup almost 2 years ago. Here are two things worth mentioning:

The base plate that came with the new one, the metal was inferior quality compared to the old one. The new one actually was bending a bit as I tried to fit it. I ended up swapping everything over from the new plate to my old plate.

The polarity was not reversed, but the black/red wires were. Maybe it’s been corrected since then, but the way it connected up to the plug that goes to the ignition amplifier, the red wire fed to the black, and the black fed to the red. I actually tested by reversing the polarity with an in between connector, and the car ran terribly. So the manufacturer just got their colors crossed.

Based on all of this, I was a bit disappointed, having to spend about $130 for this. But there are not many choices for this part.

This is a part that rarely fails, it’s usually the wires coming out that get brittle with age. I put some heat shielding on the new wires, and secured them so they weren’t touching the top of the engine like before.

[Kirbert (Author of the Book, former owner of an '83 XJ-S H.E.)]

@gregma

This is a part that rarely fails, it’s usually the wires coming out that get brittle with age.

Yep. And, oddly enough, a Chevy part won’t do. The pickup for the Chevy HEI looks completely different, even though it works with the same amp.

[gregma (Greg (1988 XJ-S V12 Lucas))]

And mine DID fail. Why? Because PO had no idea how to set the gap. So the star wheel scraped across the magnetic pickup. Not only did this ruin the magnetic pickup, buy my star wheel had notches worn into the teeth!!!

Surprisingly, the engine still ran, although poorly.

[bruced (Bruce Davis)]

Continuing the discussion from Distributor pickup:

Thank you gentlemen for your input and advice re. the pickup. I note Greg you swapped everything over to the old base plate and that is the way I will go. Does the star wheel need to be removed to achieve the swap over?

Cheers,
Bruce