Where to start... First, sorry for my bad grammar, english is not my first lanquage so try to hold on... One day a guy drives to my house with very nice GT4, unrestored one. We talk and he complain that "it leaks oil" and it did very much... Time goes by. After year, he calls me and ask asisstance for mechanic to take engine out, I help the guy but had really odd feeling with this "mechanic". Time goes by after many months owner calls me that "GT4 does not run vey well, can you check carburators" , ok. When I rive to hes house and open cover IT LITERALLY LOOKS LIKE THIS: http://youtu.be/BBgghnQF6E4 I have never ever seen car that runs like that, popping with ALL eigth like "Steamboat willie". We tune (with my father) and we get car reasonable state, but ignition is off. Funny thing is that last carburator guy just said "It is good as it gets" Actually when you start the engine, ignition trhows spark so early that it hit against starter and all movement stops for second. We drive the car to carage and see ignition with lamp; 50 something with idler... Something is wrong! Carburator tuning was very hard and after many hour we found why; "Mechanic" who had done engine, had took slice out of one head or machine too much out from one and that is why we got unbalanced engine. We took care of that with cam pulleys, that is all we can do for now. Before owner had call us GT4 was around various carages and mechanics. At some point one of these had came with idea that car running bad, so there must be something wrong with ignition. So new BSM system was ordered but, when they had ordered system, part suplyer send them Dino-system (V6), NOT Dino 308GT4. New parts where send and changed but wrongly as when you have HAL-plate and ignition saft seperately it is VERY hard to get them timed together. http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u84/unknow82/projekti/jakovika.jpg This why Ignition killed starter and I could not find zero ignition, as HAL-plate turns with ignition saft. At some point Ignition box was found falty and new was send. It took me some time to figure out, why "new" ignition was not working By this time I have done compleat restoration to carburators. We agreed to send ignition to Australia and we did, some emails was change but then silence for six months. After this I contact Superformance, as they are distributor for BSM boxes. I learn that BSM is now bankruptcy and GT4 Box is somewhere in Australia. Owner had sold original ignition (that worked fine when I las saw car runing) and luckily we where able to get them back, fully dismanteled, just box full of little parts. Now I am rebuilding original ignition back together and my question is; Can you change lower distributor bearing (close to cam saft), is it just to pull out? So now we have engine that is migth hold suprise, but no-one knows, "mechanic" who did engine is out of busines. We do not have ignition and car had not run for three years. We just agreed to adjust carburators but now I can't get this car out of my hands, as owner do not pay for job we have done, as car is not runing. I do have regular day job and this is just hobby, but I am so tired for this car for now...
The distributors are calibrated off of the car with a machine. As far as this engine is "out in the weeds" I'd pull both of them (or just one??) and send it off for checking/rebuild. Once correct you put them in and life os GOOD! Rest now....
Yes, I am aware of fact that you need bench calibrate distributors with machine that no-one in my country seems to have, only one I know that I have seen in museum. I am sure here are no-one who can do calibration so, I have to learn my self. As btw; I had to learn how to adjust carburators for my own cars, as only les then ten people in here seems to have some idea how to do it and now I have line behind my door with all the folks with bad runin three, four or six carburator cars.
I just try to figure this out: It was only supost to be gasket change and now all that someone had touch is so badly wrong that no one would belive.
I am in Australia......... Black Stallion Motors in Bankruptcy??? News to me.........the "owner" sold the business to his mechanic. Tim (mechanic)is still working from the same site and business is still operating under the same name(Black Stallion Motors)and still working on Ferrari's. I visited several days ago! Peter
You should go buy that machine out of the museum....seriously! TRutlands here (US) did my last pair, although for awhile there I though they had LOST them....big $$$$
There are many interesting parts involved with the distributor: brush, rotor, points, condenser. Then the weights and springs for advance. No wonder the magic machine. Another option, which I dread but propose, is a kit like the electromotive. I found the difference in startup, idle and performance was dramatic. Good luck.
Did you perhaps find a potentially more lucrative day job by accident? With a bit of work you could probably make your own distributor machine
Well... I do have dayjob that gives me huge amount of free time, so for fun it is nice to something that is diffrernt. I'll bet correctly working distributor machine is better valued then time used to make one, so i'll aim for real thing. And for extra you get nice looking gadget to garage. That is intersting... I ask about this issue from Superfomance 7th May and they also had issues with BSM. So is it still up and going?
There has been one for sale here on one of RobertGarven threads. The stock distributors are like a tank once properly calibrated. I think I would prefer that to all the aftermarket electronics, but no experience with them. I use six stock units.....I should have bought two new ones as spare, when I saw them tho, $800 EACH!
