Rev limiter

[StephenRae]

I need a rev limiter for my FF1600. Has anyone any long term experience of any of the many on the market, are they reliable?

[M1NNT]

Yes,The Omex clubman rev limiter is very good and reliable unit.It is available from tweeks at a special price.Give me a call on 01978 663062

[zefarelly]

sales pitch !

I , and many others in our series dont use them, they have a tendancy to cause misfire problems in my (limited) experience, never missing a gear might help as well

[Tim Falce]

I , and many others in our series dont use them, they have a tendancy to cause misfire problems in my (limited) experience, never missing a gear might help as well

I am glad it is not only me who has misfire problems with a limiter fitted. I have an Omex one and have disconected it as I am fed up with never being sure when it will decide to cut the engine, usualy about 500-700 revs lower than I want it to.:confused:

[KC]

Many of the rev limiters have what they call a soft touch rev control. Units like the MSD Ignition module slowly starts dropping cylinders about 250 rpms before the full limit is reached. This keeps the engine from hitting a hard limit and upsetting the car's balance.

[1200Datto27]

Most rev limiter that I have dealt with cause these problems due to faults within the ignition signal. If you can get hold of an osiliscope (spelling) and check the signal that the limiter is receiving, you would see ghost signals on the line. This can be difficult to trace the cause of, as a number of things can cause this to occur, ranging from a bad earth to a slight knock feeding back through the plugs.

[StephenRae]

Lotus twin cams,probably with a Ford distributor used to have rotor arm on which the centre contact sat on a slide which centrifugal force moved against a spring, breaking the connection, this could be varied by the remval of 3 small screws which acted as weights.
No one seems to do a similar thing for a Bosch distributer.

[alfasud]

My old Alfasud Sprint (1980 pre electronic ignition) used to have the sliding rotor contact idea too. My one had a Ducellier distributor, but I'd expect the Alfa's with Bosch distributor had something similar. Might see if I can dig out my old workshop manual to confirm.

[StephenRae]

Alfasud..If you can find a part No for it you will have made my day..Steve

[zefarelly]

the twin cam engine had that . . .not sure how reliable it is though, It should fit on a standard Lucus distributor, you may have to change the cap though which wouldnt break the bank

[StephenRae]

Zefarelly...From past experience I don't think the Lucas distributor is up to the job, I may have been unlucky but high bearing wear rate and tendancy to fall apart have put me off for good.

[zefarelly]

I have an Aldon Dissy on mine, had to remove the spark triggering device though as I'm suppposed to yun points for FiA regs apparently

[Barny]

StephenRae....early BMW's used the same type of rev limiter on the rotor arm and it was Bosch, but not sure if it was adjustable apart from changing the springs.

[alfasud]

Originally posted by StephenRae
Alfasud..If you can find a part No for it you will have made my day..Steve

Sorry, couldn't find the part number of the rotor. In my Alfasud manual, it lists the early single carb cars (72-76ish) having either the Bosch JFU 4, or Ducellier 4435/A distributer (with points). Looking at that chapter of the manual, they didn't seem to have the slide cut-out rotor.

My alfasud sprint veloce was a 1980 twin carb car and had the Ducellier with points and over-rev slide cut-out rotor. The cutout came in about 7000-7200rpm. To adjust the cut-out you would probaly have to play around with the spring tension. I suspect the Bosch equipped cars from the same era also had the cut-out rotor idea.

About 1981/82 they changed to either a Bosch or Marrelli beakerless ignition/distributor system. The manual shows a picture of the "Marelli rotor arm with centrifugal cut-out", from one of these late model cars.

I'm sure the late model Bosch equipped cars were also equipped with centrifugal cut-out. My 1982 alfasud ti doesn't, but I'm sure it's not the original 1982 rotor either.

[StephenRae]

Many thanks Alfasud I'll go and plague my local Alfa dealer...I'll post my progress.

[alfasud]

Good luck.... I mentioned the Alfasud cause that's what I've got, but it might even be the same centrifugal cut-out used in the later Alfa 33 (mid 80's and beyond), and others that ran the boxer engine.

[StephenRae]

I have not had much to do with road cars since the late seventies, my auto electric knowledge stopped at alternators. However Alfasud you put me on the right track, the 'intermotor' parts list at my local spurious parts seller is extensive. He had one in stock which turns out to be a direct fit on the Fiesta distributor.
Pre 1985 VW Golf Bosch part...
No 1234 332 299...6700revs or
No 1234 332 383...6800revs
I am told that reaching the rev limiter is like hitting a brick wall, time will tell. I only intentionally use 6600 so hopefully this will not be a problem.
Thanks for the info Alfasud.

[JimW]

Originally posted by StephenRae
. . . I am told that reaching the rev limiter is like hitting a brick wall, time will tell. I only intentionally use 6600 so hopefully this will not be a problem.

I had the spring-against-centrifugal force type limiter type on a Lotus Twin-cam (in a Jensen Healey).

It scared me witless the first time it happened as the car just seemed to stop. As I was then wanting all it would give alongside some person who had tried to out accelerate me when I was overtaking, I was not impressed.

A careful try or two suggested that it was not very accurate about when it came in and the specialist garage advice was "Take it off and be more sensible".

I compromised with being more sensible.


Wish I had had one on the next car. I suspect an over-rev due to a rubber mat catching the throttle contributed to the early demise of the crank.

Jim

[StephenRae]

I know how you feel Jim, I've been struggling for a few years since I lost two engines in two races with broken cranks. Now I've eventually got a good one, I don't trust myself with it!

[Werewolf]

Have 89VD which the previous owner had fitted rev limiter but had nothing but problems trying to get it right.he took it back off.think ill leave it like that and try to get educated right foot

[halecmini]

i've had one of these cetrifugal rotor arms fall apart on me before, don't really trust them.
i think the best bet is to get a shift change light thats what i use now...no probs at all....