24D or 45D

[Mark T Boldry]

I guess this'll be my first post here and whilst a I've been a member of the Club for a while, I've not yet ventured into the Forum...

Looking at a simple fault on my 1966 Series 2A (suffix C) 88" (a failed ignition condenser), I notice my car is fitted with a later 45D distributor, this has led me to research the engine and find that I have a 901 engine, which, as far as I can see, is a Series 3 three bearing engine... (also with a suffix C).

So, I have a few questions..:

What are the differences between the Series 2 and the Series 3 three bearing engines..?

When did the Series 3 get introduced with the five bearing engine..?

I've hear tell that the 23D distributor when fitted to the Series 2 can be a cause of ignition pinking, is this the case..?

Should my 1966 Suffix C 2A have a 23D or a 45D distributor with it's current engine (as far as I'm aware, the 45 D wasn't introduced until circa 1974)..?

Lots of questions... I look forward to reading your replies.

Many thanks,

Mark.

[Sunny Jim]

I fitted a 45D to my original 151 2¼ engine. When somebody told me 'it shouldn't be on the vehicle', I pointed out that it had been supplied by Lucas (when there was a big Lucas shop in Birmingham) to replace my original DM2 that had a cracked body. I took the old one there with my dad in about 1980, and that is what was supplied after a phone call. I would go by what Lucas said, rather than some 'Worldly Wiseman'! I don't see anything wrong with fitting 'supersession' parts, i.e. genuine replacement parts that are correct for the vehicle, but not identical to the originals.

Your 45D may have been fitted as part of a second hand replacement engine, or could have been a replacement fitted at another date. There should be a date on the body of the distributor somewhere. There is no advantage in replacing the 45D with an earlier variant, provided it is the correct part for a 2¼ engine! Unless you are concerned about making a factory original vehicle, rather than a well maintained one that works, I wouldn't get too worried.

There are no fundamental differences between 2A and Series 3 engines until the 5 bearing ones were introduced. Early Series 2 engines had different bearings, cylinder heads, water pumps etc, that are not interchangeable with later engines.

I think the 5 bearing 2¼ engines were introduced about 1981. These can be fitted to earlier vehicles, with minimal changes, using the original manifolds. I have a 2.5 petrol (which has a longer stroke than the 2¼. These later engines have metric fixings on them. I mixed an matched things like the thermostat housing, fuel pump etc, to fit it.

Sunny Jim

[Alan Drover]

The 25D4 was replaced by a Ducellier in about November 1979. The 5 bearing engine was prefixed 361 for high and 364 for low compression and introduced in December 1980.Some Land Rovers were fitted with engines built by Santana of Spain to overcome shortages. These were prefixed 991 for high and 992 for low compression and were fitted with the sliding point version of the 45D4 which was fitted to some UK engines to overcome a shortage and it carried on to the 2.5 petrol engine. The main difference between the 25D4 and the 45D4 is that the latter has a different cap and a non a non adjustable vacuum advance.

[simeon]

....The main difference between the 25D4 and the 45D4 is that the latter has a different cap and a non a non adjustable vacuum advance.

This may lead the OP to read that it adjusts the vac advance timing curve. It doesn't do this, it adjusts the timing point due to the then poor quality fuel of the time.

[Peter Holden]

Either distributor should work if the advance springs and vac unit are the correct ones, the 25D gives you the ability to get the timing more accurate by ussing the vernier adjustment.

Many many years ago I ran an early land rover with a 26D distributor lifted straight from a morris minor and it worked fine.

Peter