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TR parts and Triumph parts, TR bits, Triumph Car Spares and accessories are available for TR2, TR3, TR3A, TR4, TR4A, TR5, TR6, TR7, TR8, Spitfire and Stag and other TR models are available from British car spares and parts company LBCarCo.

Triumph TR6 - Great Distributor Modification

For those of you that are trying to get the most out of your TR6 and don't mind modifications, here's one for you. Get the distributor changed over from vacuum retard to vacuum advance. The improvement to acceleration is tremendous! Richard Good (Good Parts) does the mod for a very reasonable price, and and "turnaround" is only a week or 10 days. Drop him an email if you're interested.
Brent B

Where do we email him ? Peter
Peter Gooch

http://www.goodparts.com/
Brent B

no distributor mod listed on site
Steven

I know it's not listed. When I bought the triple ZS manifold and asked about timing settings, he told me about it. Email him - it may be something he only performs following a purchase.
Brent B

Brent,
Thats odd. UK cars have a vacuum advance capsule fitted but it was never connected to the manifold. Seems a bit stingy of Britsh Leyland not to supply a length of hose if the performance improvement were that good!
Peter
P H Cobbold

Hey, Peter. I thought the PI models had the advance module hooked up, but not over here due to emissions. The improvement is pretty good!
Brent B

Would someone please explain why vacuum advance is better than mechanical? Thanks.
Rick Orthen

The best I can figure is that a purely mechanical advance distributor will set the timing based on speed alone. Doesn't matter if you're crusing along at constant speed, or have the pedal to the floor trying to accelerate. But those conditions are very different.

The vacuum advance superimposed on the centrifugal advance curve is a better attempt to match those conditions. When you're crusing, the manifold vacuum is high and the module pulls the timing forward for efficiency. When you stomp it, the vacuum drops which lowers the amount of advance to conditions more appropriate for acceleration.
Brent B

Brent - What was the cost?
Don K.
DON KELLY

It was $49, which included return shipping. But AGAIN - it's not listed on the sight so I don't know if it's a routine thing. You need to email goodparts.
Brent B

Thanks for the explanation Brent. Why did the later TR's lose the vac advance (pollution control I guess). So, the Goodparts mod is to reposition the retard capsule to the front side of the distributor and relink to the plate? Is the vacuum source the same as the retard?
Rick Orthen

Yep - the distributor body is machined to accept the retard module on the other side, and the spring hooked on the advance plate. Same vacuum hose connection used. A dab of silicone rubber is used to plug the module hole on the retard side.
Brent B

What about those Petronic electronic ignition systems? Has anyone heard success/ horror stories about them?
Bryn

I've used Pertronix ignition on three LBCs at this point and swear by it.Eliminate the ballast, get a hotter coil and open up the plug gap. Better starting (instant), better fuel economy and no more messing w/ points or timing. I now use a flamethrower coil(Pertronix also,matched to ignition, about 40 bucks) with .043 gap.
About 10 to 15 mins to install. Peter
Peter Gooch

Brent--With the vac advance, do you port the vacuum directly from the rear carb and bypass the thermoswitch in the upper rad hose?

Rick O.
Rick Orthen

Mine goes straight to the port on the carb - the thermo switch is long gone.

The onlt problem I have is getting the idle speed down. It's no problem at 8 deg BTDC, but the advance pulls it out to about 24 deg. I'm disabling the temperature compensators to see if that helps.
Brent B

This thread was discussed between 16/05/2003 and 23/05/2003

Triumph TR6 index