I NEED a 79'-80' E12-80 Distributor (CHEAP)

[Zs-ondabrain]

I'm so sick of these %^$# points and bad shaft bearings. I have 3 240Z distrbutors and they all suck A$$.

I need an E12-80 Distributor out of a 79'-80 280ZX, for a good cheap price.

I'll even trade for a headlight upgrade harness if you need one and want a good deal.

Please Help!!

E-mail or P.M. me.

[Fun_in_my_z]

There is a 79 and a 82 turbo down at the picknpull, if you would like i could run down their this weekend and take a look see

[mlc240z]

Dave,

if any of the 240z dizzy shafts are okay, go Pertronix.

everything fits inside, maintains the stock look, and screw the points.

$60-$70 and never touch it again. i'm very happy with the look, ease of maintenance (none!), ease of installation, and reliability.

as good as it is, i originally thought some member here (guess who) had designed and manufactured them.

bart

[240ZX]

Good call Bart! Shoot, when I was converting my 240 over to electronic ignition I went to the pick-a-parts to get the necessary distributor but..........to make a long story short, I said f_ _k it and purchased a new Mallory Unilite! It's been working perfectly for over 5 years now...and it looks way better than a stock unit. The pertronics conversion is certainly a good one as well....and alot less $$$ and labor. While your at it, put some GOOD plug wires on as well. I'm a fan of Magnacore wires (KV85 on my Z).

[jmortensen]

What money and labor? You can get a used E12-80 distributor from a JY for $50 or less all day long with the module. If the module goes bad you can use an HEI module or a Chrysler module that costs $15 at any auto parts store. The ignition advance curve is way better for performance than the 240 distributor. The wiring consists of adding 2 wires. It's a very easy and cheap swap, I'd guess just swapping it in is even EASIER than adding a Pertronix system.

I always go through a new distributor and disable the vacuum advance system, because that is the real Achilles' heel of the ZX distributor. The vacuum advance system does fall apart. But it can be fixed permanently in place for the cost of some JB Weld.Here's some info on the swap, and tearing down the ZX distributor:

http://www.jrdemers.com/280ZX/distributor/distributor.html

http://www.atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/distributorrebuild/index.html

I've heard many cautionary tales about the Mallory distributor, but I'm glad to hear that yours hasn't been problematic Ted. I do agree about the Magnecor wires though.

[Arne]

Pertronix is a good choice IF you have a decent dizzy to put it in. Problem is that most 240Z dizzies are worn out by now.

Unilite is also great. But far from affordable.

The ZX dizzy with E12-80 is affordable, and still works well. They are much easier to find with the bushings still serviceable.

Dave, often the later ZX dizzies (with the E12-93 box) are significantly cheaper at the yards, since none of us want that combination. If so, I just got an E12-80 box for my E12-93 dizzy from a vendor in CA that was tested, guaranteed and quite affordable. So if you see an E12-93 dizzy, try to buy it cheap, then give me a PM. I'll make a couple calls to some yards around here, as well.

[jmortensen]

FWIW the page by Joe Demers says that internally the E12-93 is the same distributor as the E12-80, so technically you could buy one of those. Potentially it might even be cheaper since they seem to be the red-headed stepchild of the Z distributor world, and then run an HEI module. Just another option.

EDIT--Arne I just read your post again, and you were saying just what I said above. Sorry, I didn't read...

[240ZX]

What money and labor? You can get a used E12-80 distributor from a JY for $50 or less all day long with the module. If the module goes bad you can use an HEI module or a Chrysler module that costs $15 at any auto parts store. The ignition advance curve is way better for performance than the 240 distributor. The wiring consists of adding 2 wires. It's a very easy and cheap swap, I'd guess just swapping it in is even EASIER than adding a Pertronix system.

I always go through a new distributor and disable the vacuum advance system, because that is the real Achilles' heel of the ZX distributor. The vacuum advance system does fall apart. But it can be fixed permanently in place for the cost of some JB Weld.Here's some info on the swap, and tearing down the ZX distributor:

http://www.jrdemers.com/280ZX/distributor/distributor.html

http://www.atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/distributorrebuild/index.html

I've heard many cautionary tales about the Mallory distributor, but I'm glad to hear that yours hasn't been problematic Ted. I do agree about the Magnecor wires though.

J, The name is Tom not Ted!!! Oh well, live and learn. Regarding the Unilite distributors....they actually had a reliability issue early on but, that was many many years ago. The current ones have been improved and are VERY reliable. If anyone intends to buy one, buy it from Summit Racing at near half the price of MSA.

[jmortensen]

Sorry Tom!!!

The guy I know who had one that blew up, was sent back, blew up, etc was an active member here for a long time, Zvoiture was his screen name. Anyway he bought his maybe 2 years ago, so unless he somehow got a hold of an old one, his should have been a newer model. We discussed it on a racing site, and the general consensus was that it is not reliable and offered no advantage over the Datsun stuff.

[madkaw]

I've got one but I don't have the base. I bought a brand new dizzy off of ebay but had no base so I bought A used one to steal the base off of. I'd love to trade you but you need the base from that year: atleast I don't know a way to make the 240 base work???

[Zs-ondabrain]

Thanks for the info guys. Some one reached me made me a great deal. I love to barter and trade so it worked out great for both of us.

The shafts on all the dizzys I have are wobbly and that is the main problem. Even the Pertronics would'nt have helped at that rate. I have the E12-80 on my RED 70' and the dizzy I need was going to go on the yellow Z.

But I think I'm going to put the one I'm getting onto the red one and the the E12-80 I have will go into the yellow 71'.

Thanks again guys,

Dave.