TR Register Forum

Three years ago I installed a new Register distributor and a year ago I fitted a Lumenition electronic system in it. The Lumention just replaced the points and the rest of the distributor was left undisturbed.
Recently I've had difficulty tuning the car to get rid of a poor idle and no matter what I did to the timing I couldn't stop the engine pinging at high revs under load e.g. at 2800-3000rpm in overdrive or 3,500-4,500 in 3rd or top up a hill. The engine pulled well in normal city driving but just didn't feel as good as it should. This was partly mixture which I think I've sorted.
Yesterday I took the car onto the freeway and after a high speed drive stopped to check the plugs for mixture, all good by the looks of it, but when I went to retard the ignition a few degrees to stop the pinging the vacuum chamber and advance/retard mechanism fell apart in my hand. I put it back together to get home and then pulled the distributor off to check it out.
The earth wire was loose on the base plate, the base plate was loose in the body and the vacuum chamber had come free from the adjusting shaft.
I reattached the vacuum chamber, replaced the earth wire and tightened everything down.
The engine now idles nicely at 800rpm, the engine revs willingly and, in the limited drive near my place, I couldn't get it to ping up to near 4,000rpm in 3rd.
These distributors are good value and perform well, but I'd recommend those who have them to go over it to make sure it is in good shape.