The Chronicles of Bloodrage

My Distributor is evil.




Spawn of the Dark Lord Lucas!



Lucas autoelectrics have a lot to answer for concerning the reliablity of British cars.

This is a Lucas 35D8 distributor, and according to the manuals and reliable web sites, was never fitted to the Rover SD1. The 35D8 was fitted to the Austrailian built Leyland P76, and the SD1 was ment to have the Lucas 35DM8 or 35DLM8. Either this distributor has been retro fitted (unlikely) or this engine was assembled in Austraila with whatever was in the parts bin that day (quite likely). The 35D8 is a simple single points distributor with vacuum advance, it known for chewing though points and producing a weak spark (often corrected by fitting a better, not lucas, coil, or with a 3rd party spark amplifier). The 35DM8 is a hall effect distributors with an internal (if made between 1982-86) or external (1986 onwards) spark amplifier, and are quite sought after (sell for $350 second hand!). I think the 35DLM8 was optical.

My one is worn out. The points keep slipping closed, and burn out more often than they should. I've never been able to trust the condensers, so they get replaced when the points pack it in. All up, about $60 every 6-12 months. The cam isn't quite the right shape either, which doesn't help.


I've orderd an aftermarket replacement, with less evil.