By bobby on Saturday, June 02, 2001 - 09:35 pm: Edit

i was wondering if anyone can tell me why land rover went to distributor-less engines. are there advantages and dis-advantages?

By Jon Williams (Jonw) on Monday, June 04, 2001 - 09:47 am: Edit

DIS offers more precise spark control, as you can adjust individual cylinder timing to accomodate rich/lean running conditions or controlling spark knock. With a rotor distributor, you can only control timing for the whole engine, which may not be necessary for the given condition. Basically, it's better for emissions and (in cars) contributes to inreased fuel economy and smoother performance.

By Ron on Monday, June 04, 2001 - 10:17 am: Edit

disadvantage:

It is a POS and you can't fix it youself and I have no chance in hell of ever understanding it nor can it be happily modified.

Advantage:

No one complains about spending 100 on a cap and rotor

By Jon Williams (Jonw) on Monday, June 04, 2001 - 10:39 am: Edit

LOL pretty much. But DIS is considerably more reliable than a Lucas rotary distributor, and maintenance-free (even on Rovers LOL). However, the easiest and only way to modify DIS is with a performance chip, and the results are very nice (on cars) :-)

By pjkbrit on Monday, June 04, 2001 - 04:33 pm: Edit

Disadvantage....the distributorless sytem needs 2 chips which cost almost twice as much as the one chip put in my 94.

Advantage...with magnacor wires, a new cap & rotor and an RPI ignition amp, I really don't see the need for GEMS and I CAN fix it if it ever breaks..(again).
Pete