Does it advance? Has someone changed the internals already?

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1986 Mayfair (998 auto), 1974 S, 1974 Van, 1972 PMG Van

Too many minis

There’s a slim chance it’ll work, but unless you check and measure you’ll have no idea

And as mentioned above, the MGA distributor you’re using now is a clockwise rotation distributor. Using it in a mini will mean you get zero advance across the rpm range and it’ll run poorly compared to a properly curved one (at least from my quick thinking now). They also use an asymmetric lobe to drive the points

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If MGA distributor ran clockwise that would mean the firing order would be different but it's not, so it must be running anti clockwise.

The “advance cam” on the distributor has 4 lobes to actuate the points. This needs to be run the correct direction for best results

The advance cam has an arm which sets the maximum advance. In this photo it’s stamped 17 degrees which means it’ll add a total of 34 degrees at the engine. If you span this backwards I think it’d stay stuck on the base timing and not advance. The springs only work one way? Or perhaps the centrifugal action is the same either direction, I need to think a bit more !

They definitely use different rotor buttons for CW vs CCW

(This cam was modified to reduce the distributor timing)

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You are correct, as confirmed by Marcel Chickak's voluminous listing.

I just thought about the direction issue. This will solve a lot of confusion which I also contributed to before thinking of this.

The commonly available PDF of distributor specifications seems to be full of errors. I can't give that PDF a name as I don't know the original source and it is available on many websites, also in reformatted versions.

The PDF lists minis as CCW but the MGA as CW.

It appears that the MGA distributor is actually CCW as we usually call it.

Lucas officially specifies the direction as if you were looking from inside the engine. Lucas therefore specifies minis as CW distributors.

I believe that PDF is made up of a mix of information, it isn't from one source and is why a lot of information is missing.

It's likely that some of the sources referred to from outside the engine whereas others used the Lucas terms.

For example that list specifies many Jowetts (where it is even specified) as CW yet they actually turn the same way as a mini. I have a mini distributor in a Jowett Jupiter which according to that list is CW and the mini CCW.

When I look for MGA distributors on eBay etc they all appear to turn the same direction as a mini.


I have had many issues finding distributor data, especially when using that PDF. I recently purchased a 1960s distributor specifications book by Vane which will arrive soon. I will scan it in.


The short version is that I now believe both an MGA and a mini distributor turn the same way.

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1986 Mayfair (998 auto), 1974 S, 1974 Van, 1972 PMG Van

Too many minis

As per my previous reply it is most likely irrelevant but I'm now thinking when turning the wrong way it would retard but at a different rate to the advance in the correct direction.

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1986 Mayfair (998 auto), 1974 S, 1974 Van, 1972 PMG Van

Too many minis

I am not correct as it turns out. I apologise for derailing the thread.

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Cheers Dave.