New 123 distributor wobbling

[swithland]

I fitted a new 123 distributor lectrinic distributor to my 1964 230sl last year and all went well and the car was running right away. I’ve now noticed just 50 miles later that the 123 distributor wobbles !! It’s well secured down and it has the correct spring under the bottom end of the shaft.

I’ve just sent a message to the supplier for advise but has anyone else had a similar issue ?

[mbzse]

The housing of the 123 distributor is slightly larger in diameter than the old Bosch dist.
You need to re-shape the clamp that holds the 123, so that the 123 dist pushes all the way down.

See attached pictures.

One can also turn the clamp 180 degrees; however this means the clamp screw will end up forwards, towards the fan and is hard to reach.

[Pawel66]

I had it yesterday: I was checkng the ignition timing and at 3k rpm the engine started misfiring. We started looking closely and figured one of the springs holding the cap of the 123 got lose. I bent it a bit and it is ok.

I assume you are sure it is the whole body of the distributor that wobbles, not just a cap?

[swithland]

I’m pretty sure it is the whole distributor. I did bend the clamp as it did foul the dizzy and I’m sure it was flush at the base but will double check this tomorrow.

I’ve done a YouTube vid to show the problem:

https://youtu.be/rHxjEjUfjhM

[PeterW113]

I fitted a 123 earlier this year on my 280. Thanks to the previous comments on the forum, the only modification needed was to turn the clamp upside down. No bending other than perhaps opening the clamp a little. I did on the bench and happy it sat flush.

It seems to fit well, and being alloy I only “pinched” it tight with the clamp.

If the engine viabrates so will the dizzy, but the dizzy should not wobble independently.

I hope this helps, feel free to pm me if you would like to talk.

Peter

[Cees Klumper]

It definitely should not wobble like that. I posted a comment on the youtube video to check the shaft and whether you installed it 180 degrees 'out' perhaps. If you can, try it with another 123 dist.

[hauser]

Just out curiosity!  Does your  123 have a spring installed?

[mbzse]

.../...whether you installed it 180 degrees 'out' perhaps../...

Very important and a bit devious... the dist drive dog teeth are slightly offset, but if you force it you can get the teeth to grip, so that the distributor turns (operates) even if installed wrongly (180 degrees off).  Not good, avoid!!

[PeterW113]

The 180 degree aspect may have legs. When I first saw the picture I noticed that my installation appears to be 180 out in comparison. I noticed it because the vacume take off was not pointing towards the inlet manifold as on mine.

Of course may be just one of those things.

BTW mine has no sping.

[PeterW113]

Sorry the you tube video not picture.

[rjmarco]

Ditto on my 123 distributor installed last year.  Installed without the spring per recommendations. 

[swithland]

So in the end I gave up trying to get the car running properly as I could not figure out what making the thing backfire, splutter and generally run shite every time I tried to accellerate. The trader I bought the car from assured me he had fixed the issue...but the truth is he hadnt touched it at all...and literally got someone to drop the car to me on a trailer and then scarpered as quick as he could... so after two years of going through everything myself....I could not fix it and finally took it into a classic car mechanic that does quite a bit on early Mercs that lives only 10 miles away.

The distributor was 180 degrees out ( well done everyone on that ). Now it does not wobble.

There were tonnes of other issues with the car....even the throttle linkage was upside down and bashing against the manifold so the accelerator pedal would not push all the way down. That was just one of many...many issues issues.

The power steering pipes were also leaking as they were kinked as well as the steering box.

The car now runs beautifully...although it does idle a little high.

On another matter, I could not believe that the guy that sold it to me from down in London had screwed me over on the propshaft....and there was no centering ball or pretty much anything else at the end of the propshaft...so when driving the car back from a trip to Jersey...the propshaft disintegrated. I had to have the whole end of the propshaft chopped off and a new end fabricated. It then took quite a while to get hold of the internal bits to reassemble.
 
Im now hoping to enjoy the car this summer...for the first time in two years since owning it. Planning a trip in May down to the South coast of the UK, then over by ferry to France, and down to Monaco...then up the west coast of France via Bordeaux and then back to the UK.

[stickandrudderman]

There are plenty of dodgy car dealers in London with big showrooms and glossy adverts. Some of them won't allow their cars to come to me for pre-purchase inspection because "He's too picky".
That's what my customers pay for!