Electronic Distributor by Stromberg UK

[andrew honychurch]

Many apologies if this has been discussed whilst I have been away playing with other vehicles, but I gather that there is now a UK manufactured electronic replacement dizzy . Having concluded that the T16 refusal to work without stopping when hot, is down to the ignition I am interested in buying one of these. Has anyone got first hand knowledge and experience of the Stromberg item and whether it was necessary to fit a high performance coil etc etc. ?

here is a link
https://www.oneillvintageford.co.uk/...tor-21a-6.html

[Richard Farrant]

Originally Posted by andrew honychurch

Has anyone got first hand knowledge and experience of the Stromberg item and whether it was necessary to fit a high performance coil etc etc. ?

Hi Andrew,
I don't have any experience on this distributor, but on the link you posted is another link to the owners manual and the following explains what the coil requirement is:
WARNING!
The e-FIRE ignition module must be used with a points style coil only, with a resistance in the primary circuit of at least 3.0 Ohms (Ω) or 1.5 Ohms with a ballast resistor. DO NOT use a low-resistance or HEI-style coil. Coils of less than 1.5 Ohms resistance are not suitable and will invalidate the warranty.


regards, Richard

[jack neville]

I have got Jolley Engineering modules on all my flatheads.
Pricey but work well.

[andrew honychurch]

thanks Richard and Jack. Richard I am thinking of bringing it down to Combined OPs at Headcorn next month, and last time out, even on the relatively short journey the coil was overheating. Usual story with the Divers Helmet . I am particularly keen to hear from anyone who has actually bought one of these distributors and is running with one . Maybe a post on the Ford FlatHead or Pilot owners club would be good idea.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Hello Andrew,

Try contacting Tobin Jones (T17E1), IIRC he has fitted a Stromberg carburettor to his T16, maybe their electronic ignition as well.

HTH,
Hanno

[Andrew Rowe]

Hi Andrew, I am at a loss as to why your coils run hot. When these machines came out of the factories, they went straight in action, with I would have thought all the problems designed and sorted out. Nowadays we are trying to pickup on old technology and make things work , with limited skills and training.
I cannot see why a proper coil , original dizzy cannot work perfectly. The need to keep jumping to electronic stuff is lost on me.
The coil you should use is a Ballast 12 volt with external resistor. So nothing special about that. What we have done in the past is run an extra wire from the starter button side of the solenoid direct to the coil with an in-line diode, ( to stop backfeed ). This is run in conjunction with the normal wiring of your coil through the resistor to the coil. So, when you push your finger on the start button you get direct feed of 12 volt to coil, and then dizzy. Once started and you release your finger off the start button, the current flow is continued on as normal through your resistor and onto the coil. BUT now you are running through the resistor, there is only 6 Volts running through the (12 V) coil, which is totally adequate for the dizzy and NO overheating problems. In My opinion the Crab type dizzy is easier to work on the the "egg type". This system is running a 12 battery, with a couple of in-line resistors for your gauges and 12 V solenoid, 12 V regulator, and original 6V gen housing converted to 12V by changing out the Field coils. Problem Free Cheers Andrew.

[andrew honychurch]

hi Andrew, thanks for the response. There is a well known problem with a batch of Divers helmet distributors fitted to T16s that causes coils to over heat due to shorting out internally. It was recounted to me that one one outing in the 1960s with the local TA 6 out of 8 T16s broke down and had to be recovered with the same issue. ( back to Ashford Richard!) Ignition failure when hot. Not long after this the British Army scrapped all their Carriers anyway.
I have spent a long while discussing this with others and concluded that its probably something to do with rotor arms that short out and overheat the coils. I dont really have any more appetite to persevere with the divers helmet as getting it on and off the engine is a pain in the back side and at 57 years old if an electronic distributor sorts the problem out for good, then thats ok for me. If anyone else wants to solve the age old problem I would be delighted to hear from them. Reference Tobin, he fitted an Electronic distributor made in the US but now no longer manufactured hence my interest in the Stromberg dizzy. thanks for the inputs chaps.

EDIT. I should add that I have deleted the original 6 v coil and have an adaptor on the top of the divers helmet which takes an standard HT lead to the coil. Its a while since I even started this T16 up but from memory I am running a standard 12 v coil. I could add a resistor wire to the ignition system and ballasted coil and see whether it works any better. The auto choke also takes a feed from the starter solenoid to provide full choke on start so I can use that feed since its very close to the coil location......or just go with the electronic distributor. To quote Tobin Jones who had suffered for a long time with the same issues as me, his T16 has been transformed by the electronics distributor and I now remember it was made by Mallory which got taken over I think.

[Andrew Rowe]

That is why we use the original 42 Crab dizzy, avoids all the problems you seem to face. The timing cover needs to be a 2 bolt one for the crab and not the 3 bolt one, and if your cam shaft sticks out further, you just put a 10mm adapter plate on to space it out for the dizzy cog to engage properly. Cheers Andrew.

[andrew honychurch]

Yes I know about the adaptors that can fit onto the front of the camshaft. I friend has a T16 which was a very late release from the British Army and it is fitted with a crab and a standard ignition coil. It came to him like this and I would say it was a British Army conversion. Interestingly he is one of two owners of a T16 that has not experienced the curse of the hot failures. The other was a brand new crated T16 bought back in the 70s and that was fine too. I think if a T16 was a road car many owners would have experimented more with them, but as they usually get transported to events, and home again it sort of gets lived with, but my time has come. I searched on Mallory Ignition last night and see that they have re introduced the electronic ignition distributor so now I have 3 choices, an original Crab, Mallory or Stromberg

[andrew honychurch]

Well after yearning after one of these new Electronic E Fire Distributors from Stromberg mine duly arrived on friday. A thing of great beauty and packaging almost to match an Apple Iphone, all gave me the feeling of money well spent.


After unwrapping it I decided it could wait until saturday when I had a slot to be able to do the job. T16 had refused to start a week ago after standing for 7 months so finally I had had enough of the distributor and coil idosyncracies so contacted Royal Kustom in Bournemouth. They are Flathead experts and I am not affiliated to them at all but have been most helpful. Tobin Jones actually put me onto Jim a while back after he solved his errant T16.


I had forgotten how tricky it is to get into the front of a T16 engine area and all of a sudden my enthusiasm for fitting this dimmed slightly. However, I soldiered on, and as I had purchased a Petronix Coil and hi spec plug leads from Jim as well set about fitting it in place. Its actually a seriously easy job, Jim had kindly numbered each lead, fitted the distributor ends on already and left me some spare to feed through the conduits on each head before fitting a super looking terracotta NGK plug cap.


I had to run a 12v volt ignition feed to the red lead on the new distributor and connect the black lead to the minus on the coil. Remember the T16 is 12 volt negative earth and only steps down to 6 v for the coil which I was not utilising anyway.


I switched on the ignition and pressed the starter and pow wow she started immediately and settled into a nice but unsteady idle. I was a bit concerned as to why she was not running perfectly sweetly but after pulling the plugs and cleaning them , they were all a bit sooted up from the last time it was misfiring on the old set up I gave it another go. This time a run around the field.


Still not perfect performance and so I pulled the plugs again. Yet again they were sooty, not oily just sooty. Ummh, wondering whether my new super spark system was upto scratch! Then I figured that the fuel had been in the T16 for probably 15 months. I reasoned that if that was in my Jaguar XJ12 from bitter experience it would misfire like a dog, so decided to treat her to 5 gallons of nice new petrol Well as I switched tanks and there was no dilution as the new tank had been empty the performance uplift was immediate. Much more power and no misfiring, perhaps a little fluffy at idle, but that could be the plugs being dirty as I didnt clean them or indeed the carb setting up. Either way, it appears to have solved the run and stop issued that so many T16s suffer from and if I fiddle around with the carb I feel sure I will get just as I want it.

So all in all , I have to say I am very well pleased with the product. Perhaps, its an indulgence on a vehicle that I really dont use that much, but there really is nothing worse than taking a vehicle to a show and it fails to perform.

I shall update the forum on any other issues I find with the dizzy.

[Andrew Rowe]

Hi Andrew, what is the cost of this setup?, you will also find a new set of plugs and adjusting the idle screws at the base of the carb , will get it running even better,
Also is the electronic alloy housing, a direct fit for the protrusion of the longer Camshaft and no need for an adapter ? and if you have a shorter Camshaft already fitted, is there a different model housing that would be ordered? Cheers Andrew.

[andrew honychurch]

The distributor was about £290 including tax and the leads and coil were of course extra. I shall be ordering a set of plugs on monday. As far as I know they were options for 2 bolt or three bolt, but not sure whether you can fit without the adaptor if you need one.

Take a look at the website.
https://www.stromberg-97.com

it may answer your questions.

Andrew

[Andrew Rowe]

Looks like a good product, even I could be convinced to change, Cheers Andrew.

[Bob Carriere]

Went to pertronix on the rebuilt chev 261 and love it....

The NOS 216 spark plug wires could not handle the 40k volts and were shocking to touch so went with modern black 8mm.

Had to regap the spark plugs (new AC 44) to 40 thou and suddenly idled much better.

Running fine ever since.....5 years ago...

[andrew honychurch]

Well just back from the Headcorn Combined Ops Event and T16 ran great. IN fact its the first time from memory that it has not stopped after some time and had to cool down. In other words the distributor is running fine. Mixture not right, and I am planning on a strip down of the carb to clean it out I guess it would do no harm. Anyway, here we are on the way back from the show.

[Richard Farrant]

Originally Posted by andrew honychurch

Well just back from the Headcorn Combined Ops Event and T16 ran great. IN fact its the first time from memory that it has not stopped after some time and had to cool down. In other words the distributor is running fine. Mixture not right, and I am planning on a strip down of the carb to clean it out I guess it would do no harm. Anyway, here we are on the way back from the show.

Hi Andrew,
It was good to see you with both the T16 and Dingo at the show. I have to say the T16 was running sweetly. Worth biting the bullet and fitting the new dizzy.

regards, Richard

[James Gosling]

I've just fitted the same crab style electronic distributor to the Lynx and it has made a huge difference, it still needs a little fine tuning but is running so much better already.

Well worth the expense!

James