I'm planning a couple of trips to Europe this year and so in the interests of avoiding possible problems I decided to upgrade the ignition system components. I think the ones on the car were original and so could do with an upgrade. Also, as everything was working the old parts would make ideal spares.
Replacement Process
I started with the rotor arm, it's just a matter of removing the distributor cap and then it's a pull-push replacement.
The new and old rotor arms:
Next I replaced the distributor cap, I marked the location of the number 1 feed and then switched them over. Then using the diagrams in the bible I worked through each cylinder as follows:
Removed the old lead and plug extenders
Connected the new plug extenders to the leads
Attached the extenders to the plugs
Routed the leads to the distributor
New vs. old plug extenders:
New Leads in place:
Replacing the coil was fairly straight forward but quite fiddly. Just undo the two securing bolts taking care not to drop the nuts / washers (which I managed to do several times). The connecting wires only go one way, there are two male and two female spade connectors.
The old coil:
The new coil:
After all that I was sure that I'd have missed something or not connected something. However a quick test-drive revealed that all was well. I think that the engine felt slightly smoother but that's probably just the "I spent money on it so it must be better" effect!
