Which Lucas distributor on my 803cc engine?

Technical questions and Maintenance advice post in here please
Post Reply
User avatar
austinpowerless
Posts: 202
Joined: Sat Nov 10, 2012 2:22 pm

Which Lucas distributor on my 803cc engine?

Post by austinpowerless »

Hello. Trying to order some tune-up parts from Kip Motors here in the States. Their 'Orphan Book' catalog (page 25) lists parts for two different applications, as follows:
1st: "Austin A30 dist #40299"
2nd: "A30/35"

Which made me realize I have no idea which Lucas distributor is on my 1955 803cc engine (engine # 2A/123265)... I've attached a photo of my distributor in place, in case that helps.

Can anyone let me know the distributor I have, and which of the two options above I should go with for rotor, points, new cap, etc?

Thanks!!

link to catalog: http://www.kipmotor.com/Catalogs/ORPHAN5A.pdf
Attachments
803cc distributor.jpg
803cc distributor.jpg (79.01 KiB) Viewed 966 times
"We are healthy only to the extent that our ideas are humane" - Kurt Vonnegut

1948 Ford 8N tractor
1955 Austin A30 Countryman
1964 Mobylette Type AV88 moped
2007 Ford F150 XL
2012 Honda Fit Sport
2016 Hyundai Elantra GT
2017 Volkswagen New Beetle convertible
User avatar
fergus
Posts: 981
Joined: Thu Aug 07, 2008 6:09 am
Location: Marton, Warwickshire.

Re: Which Lucas distributor on my 803cc engine?

Post by fergus »

The early DM2 #40299E had its points held by 2 screws, and the later one # 40494A had its points held by a single screw. Some other bumf here: http://www.starchak.ca/tech/pdfs/lucas.pdf
User avatar
Neil Evans
Posts: 12179
Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 1:06 am
Committee Role: Technical Officer
Location: Boston, Lincolnshire
x 11
x 25

Re: Which Lucas distributor on my 803cc engine?

Post by Neil Evans »

Is anything actually wrong with the old cap and rotor arm? Fitting modern pattern part replacements is, by my experience a recipe for breakdowns in the short to medium term future. If it's got genuine Lucas parts on it then leave well alone...
Club Technical Information Officer
A30/A35 Club Member A191 (since 1972)

Father of the club's only love child
User avatar
austinpowerless
Posts: 202
Joined: Sat Nov 10, 2012 2:22 pm

Re: Which Lucas distributor on my 803cc engine?

Post by austinpowerless »

Thanks, gentlemen - good advice. I will check to see if there is one screw or two screws, and whether the parts are Lucas or not.
"We are healthy only to the extent that our ideas are humane" - Kurt Vonnegut

1948 Ford 8N tractor
1955 Austin A30 Countryman
1964 Mobylette Type AV88 moped
2007 Ford F150 XL
2012 Honda Fit Sport
2016 Hyundai Elantra GT
2017 Volkswagen New Beetle convertible
User avatar
A40FARINAGURU
Posts: 16412
Joined: Tue Mar 30, 2010 8:14 am
Committee Role: A35 Registrar
Location: Birmingham (Home of the Austin)
x 21

Re: Which Lucas distributor on my 803cc engine?

Post by A40FARINAGURU »

austinpowerless wrote:Thanks, gentlemen - good advice. I will check to see if there is one screw or two screws, and whether the parts are Lucas or not.
the photo shows the early cap so you will have the two screw points, the later cap had the retaining clips top & bottom with the cut out for the terminal block on the side, your clips are either side & the cut out at the bottom, you can fit the later 803 distributor which the point,cap are so much easier to obtain i'e 948/1098 type
Nick Bayliss

Club's A35 (Saloon) Registrar, South Midlands Area Contact

Email, a35@austina30a35ownersclub.co.uk

Connected with A30/A35's for 63 years

A30/A35 Member A1372 (since 1981)
User avatar
matt
Posts: 2248
Joined: Tue Jul 29, 2008 1:31 pm
Location: Midlands (depends where I’m moored)

Re: Which Lucas distributor on my 803cc engine?

Post by matt »

If you did go down the route of a new distributor Simonbbc have replacement distributors, you could either swap to electronic ignition or they sell points distributors too

http://www.simonbbc.com

Points,

http://www.simonbbc.com/distributors/4c ... -rotor-arm

Electronic

http://www.simonbbc.com/distributors/4c ... -rotor-arm
http://www.midlandgardencare.co.uk
Je höher der Affe klettert, desto zeigt er seinen Arschi
Old telephone directories make ideal personal address books Simply cross out names and address of people you don't know
Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia
Post Reply