Which Distributor?

[Sharpen]

Hi everyone, acqired new beat yesterday for wifes birthday, drove it home and now i totally begrudge giving it to her, I WANT IT!!!
I would like to know how to tell if the distributor is ok; the fault which affects it and causes the engine to be badly damaged which I have read about somewhere, does the explanation exist already as a thread somewhere on this site? If not could someone explain what I should be looking for.
Also as I'm a newbie, are there other things I should be keeping my eye on?
Many thanks

[Andy V]

Hi Sharpen, and welcome.

The following thread gives a fair guide to the dizzy question:

http://www.u-ukhbc.co.uk/vbb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=136&highlight=distributor

I checked ours using that thread as a guide and eventually managed to find it. The two problems I had were that the area where the serial number was stamped is out of sight and was a bit dirty and, trying to read it in situ without removing the dizzy, I needed one of those small mirrors on a telescopic stick and cunning positioning of a torch to locate it and read it (in mirror image of course). Still, if I can manage it I should think anyone can :p

There's a search facility on this site (one of the tab thingies at the top right of the page somewhere) which can be helpful looking for hints and things - but don't be frightened to post any questions too, there's often someone about that'll be able to help.

The other main thing I can think of at the moment is the engine check light issue. One of the the threads referring to this (we had problems with ours when we first bought it) can be found at:

http://www.u-ukhbc.co.uk/vbb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=450&highlight=warning+light


Cheers for now,

Andy.

[Sharpen]

Thanks for those links Andy!

I'm going to take a look at the dizzy batch no. this weekend.

The engine light works and stays out once started, so thankful bout that esp after reading some other probs others have had.

Am also going to get some high temp capacitors and rework the ECU as a bit of preventative maintainence.