Flaminia Upgrades

[Dave Gee]

Over the past few years I have carried out several modifications to my Sport.

New adjustable shockers,made by a company called Gaz, which work well and are now part of their product range
Electronic ignition, made by H&H ignition. I have had this fitted for approximately two years, it gives easier starting, smoother running and slightly better fuel economy.  Everything sits inside the distributor, all you can see are the two wires that come out and attach to the coil. The distributor was fully reconditioned,at a very reasonable cost.
Lately I have been working with a company for 18mths to convert a dynamo into an alternator, which I have just got back.  I have also had one done for a Fulvia, and I think with slight bracket modification the Flaminia will fit the Flavia.  I will take some photographs over the weekend and put them on.  They look very good, but just haven't fitted it yet.
 

[frankxhv773t]

I noticed in one of the car magazines last year thet someone is doing alternators that look like standard dynamos for english classics, Jags I think or MGs. It seemed like a neat idea.

Frank

[Charles Frodsham]

I have just done a recent mod to the distributor on my Flaminia PF.

The old distributor showed lots of timing scatter on the rolling road, so I looked at various alternative options. Bearing in mind that replacement caps and points are expensive, hard to find, and not always reliable, I have pursued an electronic equivalent. I finally decided on a 'programmable' 123ignition system, with which I have had some very good results with on an Alfa Duetto. This was a special order item, and needed some alterations to get a nice fit.

We fitted it and set it up on a rolling road last week (MEK motorsport). The advance curve is altered to suit the engine by plugging in a laptop. Ten points through the rev range can be optimised to give a 'custom' advance curve. The old mechanical advance curves were designed for old fuel, so nowadays most classic cars have insufficient advance at lower rpm's. This give large increases in performance at lower rpm, and much improved driveability.

The distributor also has a vaccum input. This was connected very neatly and discreetly to the vaccum offtake on the bulkhead (like a berlina). Again, the vaccum curve is programmable, and means that much more advance can be set on part throttle positions, typically as much as 40 degrees, giving better performance and significantly better fuel consumption.

The car drives beautifully now, and is noticeably smoother.

[Dave Gee]

As promised in the first post, pictures of the dynamo/alternators for the Flaminia and Fulvia are attached.

Dave

[Richard Fridd]

Looks good Dave

[Richard Fridd]

This article mentions fitting a (albiet non-modified) vacuum advance distributor from from a Sedan, claiming improved fuel ecconomy, and "an aftermarket cruise control system that allowed the driver to change his position on the longer stretches" http://www.hemmings.com/hsx/stories/2006/12/01/hmn_feature17.html