[xk] 123 distributor from NL

A number of you posted that you installed a 123 distributor
from the Netherlands. Will, you did yours last fall.
Any long term feedback on your experience?

Iā€™m going give Pertronix a 3rd try and if their lobe sensor
design still looses track and goes into shut-down, Iā€™d like
to consider the 123 for my xk120.

Althought Iā€™m generally happy with points, I did notice what
I thought to be an occasional misfire at sustained rpm over
4000. Iā€™m hoping a modern type of ignition will cure that
problem.ā€“
John
Boston, MA, United States
ā€“Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]ā€“

In reply to a message from John sent Mon 23 Sep 2013:

John

I installed a Petronix in my xk120 last year I have taken it on a
few long runs and it seems to work well, however on two occasions
when I tried to restart after a run it would run rough and lumpy
for about 30 seconds and then be ok, it almost seemed that the
Distributor lost its timing or orientation before smoothing out and
then running fine. not quite sure what is happening. Would be
interested to know if others had similar things happen with the
Petronix System. I can always go back to the original Distributor.

Regards

Michael Sweeney

XK 120 OTSā€“
jagman
ā€“Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]ā€“
ā€“Support Jag-lovers - Donate at http://www.jag-lovers.org/donate04.php ā€“

ā€œIā€™m hoping a modern type of ignition will cure that problem.ā€

Did for me; Mallory 18 years ago, and, ā€œso farā€, :wink: no problems.
Cheers,
The Jag MavenOn Sep 23, 2013, at 10:38 AM, John wrote:

A number of you posted that you installed a 123 distributor
from the Netherlands. Will, you did yours last fall.
Any long term feedback on your experience?

Iā€™m going give Pertronix a 3rd try and if their lobe sensor
design still looses track and goes into shut-down, Iā€™d like
to consider the 123 for my xk120.

Althought Iā€™m generally happy with points, I did notice what
I thought to be an occasional misfire at sustained rpm over
4000. Iā€™m hoping a modern type of ignition will cure that
problem.

John
Boston, MA, United States
ā€“Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]ā€“

Perhaps ā€œheat soakā€ with ā€œmodernā€ gasoline formulations. Have experienced ā€œhot restartā€ symptoms in warm to hot weather where I drive (5,600 to 10,000+ feet) over the last 18 years (progressively) , seemingly coincident with efforts to reformulate gasoline; especially noted when stopping to refuel. Car will buck and chug for 20+ seconds driving away from pump. Now I idle and wait for ā€œcoolā€ fuel to enter the carb before motoring off. Sometimes using choke (electrically operated on 670207) seems to help.
Cheers,
The Jag MavenOn Sep 23, 2013, at 11:12 AM, newrynuck wrote:

In reply to a message from John sent Mon 23 Sep 2013:

John

I installed a Petronix in my xk120 last year I have taken it on a
few long runs and it seems to work well, however on two occasions
when I tried to restart after a run it would run rough and lumpy
for about 30 seconds and then be ok, it almost seemed that the
Distributor lost its timing or orientation before smoothing out and
then running fine. not quite sure what is happening. Would be
interested to know if others had similar things happen with the
Petronix System. I can always go back to the original Distributor.

Regards

Michael Sweeney

XK 120 OTS

jagman
ā€“Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]ā€“
ā€“Support Jag-lovers - Donate at http://www.jag-lovers.org/donate04.php ā€“

In reply to a message from John sent Mon 23 Sep 2013:

hmmmmnnnā€¦just my two centsā€¦
I have the stock distributor/points, as all the XKs have used for
years, and have had no problems, almost never touch it, maybe
cleaned up the points once or twice and replaced onceā€¦this in the
past 12 yrs. Sounds like 'ā€˜someā€™ of the improvements, may have
their own set of issues.ā€“
Nick53XK120S
Spokane WA, United States
ā€“Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]ā€“
ā€“Support Jag-lovers - Donate at http://www.jag-lovers.org/donate04.php ā€“

Michael,
I believe your issue is not ignition, but fuel. Nearly all of our vintage cars: ( '38 BMW 328, '52 Riley, 2 XK120s, Morris Minor, '37 Packard 120, and others), are all experiencing hard starts and rough running after driving and then sitting ( 20 - 30 minutes). From what Iā€™ve read,ā€¦Ethanol only makes the situation worse.
Cheers,
Knight________________________________
From: newrynuck mikejagman@hotmail.com
To: xk@jag-lovers.org
Sent: Monday, September 23, 2013 1:12 PM
Subject: Re: [xk] 123 distributor from NL

In reply to a message from John sent Mon 23 Sep 2013:

John

I installed a Petronix in my xk120 last year I have taken it on a
few long runs and it seems to work well, however on two occasions
when I tried to restart after a run it would run rough and lumpy
for about 30 seconds and then be ok, it almost seemed that the
Distributor lost its timing or orientation before smoothing out and
then running fine. not quite sure what is happening. Would be
interested to know if others had similar things happen with the
Petronix System. I can always go back to the original Distributor.

Regards

Michael Sweeney

XK 120 OTS

jagman
ā€“Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]ā€“
ā€“Support Jag-lovers - Donate at http://www.jag-lovers.org/donate04.php ā€“

In reply to a message from John sent Mon 23 Sep 2013:

John ALL cars misfire!!! New state of the art cars misfire. The
fault programs do not activate with a single misfireā€“only repeated
misfires on the same cylinder. My advice is to have your orig.
distributor rebuilt properly and it will work just as well as any
other system you are thinking about. Please remember that when your
120 was new Jaguar was having a bit of success in a 24 hour race or
so that was run on POINTS.ā€“
The original message included these comments:

Althought Iā€™m generally happy with points, I did notice what
I thought to be an occasional misfire at sustained rpm over
4000. Iā€™m hoping a modern type of ignition will cure that

ā€“
George Camp
Columbia SC, United States
ā€“Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]ā€“
ā€“Support Jag-lovers - Donate at http://www.jag-lovers.org/donate04.php ā€“

John,

How did you sustain 4K and still hear the miss? Great seeing you again
and your car sounds magnificent! Glad you got home safe as well.

Regards,

Rick
On Mon, 23 Sep 2013 09:38:31 -0700 ā€œJohnā€ bfeng7@yahoo.com writes:> A number of you posted that you installed a 123 distributor

from the Netherlands. Will, you did yours last fall.
Any long term feedback on your experience?

Iā€™m going give Pertronix a 3rd try and if their lobe sensor
design still looses track and goes into shut-down, Iā€™d like
to consider the 123 for my xk120.

Althought Iā€™m generally happy with points, I did notice what
I thought to be an occasional misfire at sustained rpm over
4000. Iā€™m hoping a modern type of ignition will cure that
problem.

John
Boston, MA, United States
ā€“Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]ā€“


One Weird Trick
Could add $1,000s to Your Social Security Checks! See if you Qualify&#8230
http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3141/5240a1138173d211322b0st04vuc

Elementary, my dear Watson. John sports Bose ears:-)
The VikingOn 9/23/13 4:12 PM, ā€œholland-rick@juno.comā€ holland-rick@juno.com wrote:

John,

How did you sustain 4K and still hear the miss? Great seeing you again
and your car sounds magnificent! Glad you got home safe as well.

Regards,

Rick
On Mon, 23 Sep 2013 09:38:31 -0700 ā€œJohnā€ bfeng7@yahoo.com writes:

A number of you posted that you installed a 123 distributor
from the Netherlands. Will, you did yours last fall.
Any long term feedback on your experience?

Iā€™m going give Pertronix a 3rd try and if their lobe sensor
design still looses track and goes into shut-down, Iā€™d like
to consider the 123 for my xk120.

Althought Iā€™m generally happy with points, I did notice what
I thought to be an occasional misfire at sustained rpm over
4000. Iā€™m hoping a modern type of ignition will cure that
problem.

John
Boston, MA, United States
ā€“Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]ā€“


One Weird Trick
Could add $1,000s to Your Social Security Checks! See if you Qualify&#8230
Juno - Free Email

Sooo, back to Johnā€™s original inquiry,ā€¦has anyone had extended experience with the 123 distributor.
Iā€™d be anxious to hear as well.
Cheers,
Knight----- Original Message -----
From: Klaus Nielsen klausnielsen@earthlink.net
To: Xk xk@jag-lovers.org
Cc:
Sent: Monday, September 23, 2013 8:06 PM
Subject: Re: [xk] 123 distributor from NL

Elementary, my dear Watson. John sports Bose ears:-)
The Viking

On 9/23/13 4:12 PM, ā€œholland-rick@juno.comā€ holland-rick@juno.com wrote:

John,

How did you sustain 4K and still hear the miss? Great seeing you again
and your car sounds magnificent! Glad you got home safe as well.

Regards,

Rick
On Mon, 23 Sep 2013 09:38:31 -0700 ā€œJohnā€ bfeng7@yahoo.com writes:

A number of you posted that you installed a 123 distributor
from the Netherlands. Will, you did yours last fall.
Any long term feedback on your experience?

Iā€™m going give Pertronix a 3rd try and if their lobe sensor
design still looses track and goes into shut-down, Iā€™d like
to consider the 123 for my xk120.

Althought Iā€™m generally happy with points, I did notice what
I thought to be an occasional misfire at sustained rpm over
4000. Iā€™m hoping a modern type of ignition will cure that
problem.

John
Boston, MA, United States
ā€“Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]ā€“


One Weird Trick
Could add $1,000s to Your Social Security Checks! See if you Qualify&#8230
Juno - Free Email

In reply to a message from holland-rick@juno.com sent Mon 23 Sep 2013:

Rick,
Itā€™ss too long before we shall meet again.

Miss: (1) wear good ear plugs. Mine cut the level by about
15db, and let some highs thru so I can still hear things
like gears whining etc. In fact it helps ones ability to
hear things like clacking valves because they filter out
the lows and mids.

(2) 90mph next to the concrete median - guard rail, you
can hear the occasional hiccup. I doubt I could hear it
without that reflecting barrier three feet away.ā€“
John
Boston, MA, United States
ā€“Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]ā€“
ā€“Support Jag-lovers - Donate at http://www.jag-lovers.org/donate04.php ā€“

Hi John,

I installed one on a Porsche 356 three years ago. Easy to do, set up and no
problems so far.
No power increase, in some cases still misfire related by the Webers, but it
cured the hot starting problem 100%.
On the 120 is still use the original point distributor without any problems
in the Alpes. Popping only after lifting the throttle after a WOT period.
Best regards
Thomas

In reply to a message from Thomas Herb sent Tue 24 Sep 2013:

Hello,

I have a XK150 and a original S-type, both with a 123
ignition. Running fine for about 3 years now.
Did some testing with the settings, and ended on ā€˜ā€˜1ā€™ā€™
Good start always even after a long winter.
When engine is hot I just push the starter for a second, and
it runs.

Regards,
Peter Jan ( from the Netherlands )
XK150fhc 1961
XK140fhc 1955
S-type 3.8 1967
S-type 3.0 1999ā€“
ruschp
ā€“Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]ā€“
ā€“Support Jag-lovers - Donate at http://www.jag-lovers.org/donate04.php ā€“

In reply to a message from Knight Martorell sent Mon 23 Sep 2013:

Knight, et al,
I think the boys are still on their British Invasion, Vt. high. :wink:

I have a 123 in my 140 for past four years +. Excellent and
improved performance. I carry the spare, points dizzy just in case,
but so far, VERY reliable.
I have experienced pertronix failure in another, Ford powered, car.

My 140 also runs rough when started hot. I suspect vapor lock
caused by heat soak and crappy fuel rather than ignition issue.
Usually clears up in 10-20 seconds. Switching on choke till it
clears helps.
Rich
ps
Missed seeing the old gang at Stowe. Rick did call with a glowing
report. ;-)ā€“
The original message included these comments:

Sooo, back to Johnā€™s original inquiry,ā€¦has anyone had extended experience with the 123 distributor.
Iā€™d be anxious to hear as well.
Cheers,
Knight

ā€“
rich neary
Statesville, North Carolina, United States
ā€“Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]ā€“
ā€“Support Jag-lovers - Donate at http://www.jag-lovers.org/donate04.php ā€“

In reply to a message from rich neary sent Wed 25 Sep 2013:

Iā€™ll post a picture of Rick posing as a juvenile delinquent
shortly (at Stowe).

Johnā€“
John
Boston, MA, United States
ā€“Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]ā€“
ā€“Support Jag-lovers - Donate at http://www.jag-lovers.org/donate04.php ā€“

I have a '69 e-type . Has anyone used the 123 distributor with the two Strombergs. I would like to know what setting has worked best.
Thanks
Ken