Distributor Doctor

[singapore stag]

-I’m sorry you had a diff part, honestly I’ve never heard of DD supplying anything other than great parts which is maybe why he was surprised. Everyone makes mistakes and how they resolve them is a measure of the business.

Fair comments, Martin is very helpful and so is his staff. But I got what I got....I don't cut corners when it comes to getting the best possible things for myself be it a shirt , socks etc.
I posted my distributor to Julian who rectified some things on it. I had already bought and fitted the Ignitor, on the behest of what I heard about it....even Martin of DD spoke highly of it. But...........the problem had to be resolved with a Dremel to make it work.
Never mind, I learnt from my experience and still will support this club and traders who want to do the best for our Stags.

On a lighter note... I have several ' left over ' bits of chrome parts and bits and bobs which are now hard to find. Will offer these up on the forum in due course. Watch this space, really woth taking a look when I post these...too busy with the Stag right now....no time even to scratch my bottom.

[DJT]

I posted my distributor to Julian who rectified some things on it.

With respect to Julian, but might it not have been better to have posted it to DD so that they could see where the fault lay, rectified it and, if necessary, improve their supply process so that it doesn’t happen to another customer?

[jbuckl]

Hi Julian
Interesting that you run the Aldon as I understand it to be a rebranded Pertronix, presumably you didn’t have problems with rotor arm fitment?
I had no problems fitting mine, with the help of a good thump and it’s not a problem that I can remember being raised on here before.
Maybe the wrong reluctor was supplied in Sukh’s Pertronix kit, or maybe there are a lot of shorter rotor arms about.

I only chose Aldon for my car based on reputation & fast availability. (Went and picked it up. It was 3x the price of other igniters) No trouble fitting it.
With sukis car the goal was to get it running within a short window of opportunity, whilst I was close by.
Not much time or interest in sending parts back to vendors though….most of us aren’t on their payroll.

[jbuckl]

With respect to Julian, but might it not have been better to have posted it to DD so that they could see where the fault lay, rectified it and, if necessary, improve their supply process so that it doesnât happen to another customer?

I was just leaning in to help suki get the engine started.
That’s what happened. there was only a brief amount of time to do the necessary checks & adjustments.

There was another reluctor in sukis old spares box which suited the rotor arm as it didn’t have the unnecessary extra thickness. Only found it after modifying the unsuitable one though.

The engine still needs other additional attention.

I imagine suki needs to focus on that rather than have a vendor tête-à-tête.

Apologies for my cynicism.

w.r.t. Helping vendors I do a bit of that (FOC) via soctfl & directly, for re introduced parts.

explaining why parts are unsuitable to vendors isn’t usually easy or fruitful.

here goes:- if the reluctors had a clearance through hole for the rotor arm to contact the cam face, the thickness of the reluctor flange wouldn’t interfere with the height of the rotor arm.

[singapore stag]

'" There was another reluctor in sukis old spares box which suited the rotor arm as it didn’t have the unnecessary extra thickness. Only found it after modifying the unsuitable one though.


So this reluctors.....I know they are magnetic. So are they specific to certain makes or can you ' mix and match ' them even though they belong to different brands?

[singapore stag]

With respect to Julian, but might it not have been better to have posted it to DD so that they could see where the fault lay, rectified it and, if necessary, improve their supply process so that it doesnât happen to another customer?

For the price I paid for a basic ignitor, I judder to think what the cost of having my distributor refurbished by DD would be.....there was no fault with the distributor Julian only made the vacuum work as it should do. The problem was the reluctor and rotor....

I think I will fit my lumenition back on with the flamethrower and exhibit the Ignitor and Bosch red in the shed with all the other highly acclaimed superfluous semi -lame parts I have amassed over the years.

I think I have to acquiesce in holding the traders accountable, just to appease and keep the peace.

[richardthestag]

I feel sorry for suppliers sometimes.

There are some supplier that I do NOT feel sorry for and I can confirm that Distributor Doctor isn't one of them. The key difference between these two different categories for me is down to after sales service. Martin at DD is outstanding at fixing an issue, as is Trevor at Faversham Classics, Peter at LDparts etc etc etc. If I am faced with an issue I will always contact the supplier to discuss, 99% of the time they will need to know batch numbers etc and are keen to listen to me. It will save them further problems down the line and help them to maintain a great reputation.

There are suppliers however who couldn't care less that you are struggling! They have your money, you have the product and as far as they are concerned the contract is complete. These suppliers I try as best I can to avoid. One particular supplier in LR circles is notorious, if you have a LR and buy parts you will know them well!

Martin at DD deals with just about every ignition component ever manufactured. I feel sure that if he were to specialise in one model then he could advise exactly on what is required, however there is a certain amount of knowledge required on behalf of the buyer, Martin at DD doesn't sell a plug and play kit.

As mentioned almost at the beginning of this thread Sukhi's / Julian's / Sujit's issue very much sounds to me as if they are using a fat bottomed rotor designed for the points setup in stag and lucas 35d8 distributors, whereas they need the slimline and shorter rotor designed for the EI lucas distributors, hence the need to dremel out the inside edge of the reluctor, / use the inferior slimmer reluctor from another brand. Use the right rotor for the application and you do not have an issue.

In one of my earlier videos from 2016 I identified exactly this issue and resolution thanks to help from Martin at DD. No swearing in this one, it is mainly Land Rovers that I swear at.

https://youtu.be/Cxxy4q0N11Q

I am not into youtube to tout for business (even though it is spectacularly good at bringing me business) nor to big up a particular supplier (there is no commercial interest in any supplier I mention), I post videos to share experiences and factual information. I find that when faced with a job that I haven't done before that there will be someone else who has. I can choose to watch those videos, then I can decide whether that is an approach that I wish to follow. It is only fair that I give back to the community that helps me. The information is freely given and in my case is based upon what I knew at that time, more often than not I try to dispel bad advise that is widely available - though I must add that I am not on any crusade against that.

It is up to you as the reader / viewer to watch and decide whether you are going to follow that advise or not.

It is up to you if you want to buy cheaper EI modules or green box stuff from ebay.

To knock a supplier for not being able to read your mind or know exactly what you have fitted to your car if most unfair.

Rant over, have a great day

[singapore stag]

" To knock a supplier for not being able to read your mind or know exactly what you have fitted to your car if most unfair.

Rant over, have a great day "

I rang the supplier for a Distributor plate so I could fit an electronic ignition..... I was given good advice to buy the plate which already had an ignitor fitted, Super exactly what I wanted and I bought it. End of story...?
He did not need to read my mind in also advicing that I would need a slimmer EI rotor to fit with the ignitor which I would have bought knowing that he is an authority on the subject.
I have not knocked anyone only related what became of my electronic ignition........nothing to gain or lose by knocking anyone.

Just to add , I do enjoy and commend your help and knowledge you share with others.

[richardthestag]

and therewith is my statements about plug and play kits and also a little user knowledge.

where should a supplier stop, would sir also like cap, rotor, leads, plugs etc etc. martin did not know that you already had the correct or incorrect rotor, why should he? he is not a specialist for Stag nor Rover v8 engines. should he gave also told you not to use the ballast feed, or what to do with the starter solenoid feed?

When i called him in 2016ish and explained that the point fat bottomed rotor wouldnt fit he was very quick to advise "ah you need the ei rotor." because my daily is a 3.9 range rover i was able to borrow that rotor for the video and confirm the solution.

it was because of the exceptional quality of the parts and the customer service that DD is now at the top of my Ignition component suppliers.

So now that the stag / pertronix knowledge is out there, folk are better educated to order the right parts in the first place