Thank you again Kirby, V12 distributor rebuild

Kirby,
Thank you yet again for all the time and effort that you put into “The Book”. It was especially helpful to me this past week as I diagnosed and fixed a Lucas HE V12 distributor problem in my 1990 V12 Vanden Plas (a Daimler Double Six badged as a Jaguar for the Canadian market).
The car recently developed a noticeable lack of performance, decreased fuel economy, and what appeared to be higher than normal coolant temperatures. However, the engine started OK and the idle was smooth. Based on what I read on Jag-Lovers and also in your book, I suspected that something was wrong with either the vacuum or centrifugal advance in the distributor. Last week I followed the info in your book as I tested the distributor and found that the vacuum advance had failed (it tested good last October when I cleaned out the “V” in this car) although the centrifugal advance appeared OK as it did last year. Then I followed your guidance on removing, disassembling, and cleaning the distributor. At that point it got a little tricky because I used the best parts from my two spare used Lucas V12 distributors (each with issues) and the original one to rebuild the best distributor that I could (and not the one that was in the car) with my on hand parts . Then I installed it, adjusted the timing, and got the car running again. There was a very noticeable increase in power when I test drove the car afterwards. It is too early to say if the coolant temperature or fuel economy issues are also resolved but I suspect that they are. Yesterday I took that car in for it’s CA Smog Check which it easily passed with very low HC and CO numbers.
Thank you again for the time and effort that you put into “The Book”. It has helped me in many ways to keep our Jaguars running their best in an affordable way because I have been able to do a lot of this work myself. This time the only out of pocket expenses were the new distributor gasket (SNG Barratt about $5) and the beers that I drank to celebrate. :wink:

Paul

You’re quite welcome! Glad it’s helping people.