Having purchased a 1977 Stag a couple of years ago, that had stood idle for many years, I set about bringing it back to a useable condition.
The one thing that has eluded me until recently was the uneven running at tickover and a tendency for the engine to stall when put into forward or reverse gear (automatic).......the only way to prevent this was to increase the tickover speed which then resulted a "leap" of the car when selecting forward or reverse...not ideal!! Plugs, points, distributor cap, rotor and HT leads had all been changed in the last few months. It was when tweaking the tickover again just prior to taking the car to a show that I became aware of a "tinny" rattle from the rear of the engine....eventually tracked it down to the distributor, interestingly the rattle disappeared as the engine warmed up (my guess is that the advance mechanism was badly worn).
I had thought about changing the points for electronic ignition for some time and decided now was the time to replace the distributor and install electronic ignition whilst doing so. After researching various options I decided to replace the distributor with one of Chris Spain's (Stagweber) refurbished units. Following Chris's instructions to the letter I tested for the presence of the ballast resistor and replaced the distributor (and coil) and wow! what a difference. I can now set the tickover to a very smooth 800 rpm and no problem now selecting forward or reverse gears from stationary, a very slight drop in revs but the tendency to stall has gone completely. The car runs smoothly throughout the rev range and feels more positive on the road.
Changing the distributor would have been the last thing on my list considering the car has only covered 53k miles from new (presumably on the original distributor).
Just thought I would share this info on the forum in case any other member's Stag is suffering similar symptoms.
Doug
The one thing that has eluded me until recently was the uneven running at tickover and a tendency for the engine to stall when put into forward or reverse gear (automatic).......the only way to prevent this was to increase the tickover speed which then resulted a "leap" of the car when selecting forward or reverse...not ideal!! Plugs, points, distributor cap, rotor and HT leads had all been changed in the last few months. It was when tweaking the tickover again just prior to taking the car to a show that I became aware of a "tinny" rattle from the rear of the engine....eventually tracked it down to the distributor, interestingly the rattle disappeared as the engine warmed up (my guess is that the advance mechanism was badly worn).
I had thought about changing the points for electronic ignition for some time and decided now was the time to replace the distributor and install electronic ignition whilst doing so. After researching various options I decided to replace the distributor with one of Chris Spain's (Stagweber) refurbished units. Following Chris's instructions to the letter I tested for the presence of the ballast resistor and replaced the distributor (and coil) and wow! what a difference. I can now set the tickover to a very smooth 800 rpm and no problem now selecting forward or reverse gears from stationary, a very slight drop in revs but the tendency to stall has gone completely. The car runs smoothly throughout the rev range and feels more positive on the road.
Changing the distributor would have been the last thing on my list considering the car has only covered 53k miles from new (presumably on the original distributor).
Just thought I would share this info on the forum in case any other member's Stag is suffering similar symptoms.
Doug
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