@Richard: It's just a one day gathering. Always on the last Sunday in August.

@Simon: I drove motorbikes for nearly 20 years (year round) NSU, BMW and Moto Guzzi all with points.
A Opel Kadett B (Vauxhall Viva) never let me down. I never experienced failing condensers and points at such a rate.
That's why I do not want to change to EI just for the sake of it.
Overhauling the Dizzy, as you and Colin suggested looks like the most sensible thing to do at this stage and then take it from there.

Many thanks to all
Hans

PS Good news from the workshop. Water pump fixed and car ready to go ...

Robert Grinter is doing a lot of work on my SP at the moment, one item of which was going to be the installation of electronic ignition. However, he has found a source of Rolls-Royce points/condensers which he feels are of such good quality that we are sticking with the conventional system. He has installed them on his own car.

Perhaps if you contact him he will be able to help?

@ Ursa Major:
Thanks a lot for the hint. I will call Robert in due time.
Regards
Hans

All my cars, 3 with V8's, Conquest & Consort, are converted to -ve earth (easy & reversable change). I use an ignition amplifier made up from a Jaycar kit, fitting a pull-up resistor to provide a cleaning current through the points. This is simple and reliable and very easy to revert to original as needs be. Simply remove the unit and restore the original coil/points wire! Everything is left standard, including condenser, thus far they have been 100% reliable. The distributor needs to be in good condition before fitting, it will last as long as the rubbing block on the cam - ie 80k miles at least. The contacts last forever! Starting is improved due to low resistance of the switching transistor. Just 4 wires to connect, 12v ign feed, earth, points & coil. Super high voltage systems tend to put increased stress on all HV components ie rotor, dissy cap, leads & cap. Also increasing plug gaps too far can also lead to flashover problems elsewhere..........

I have had nothing but trouble with electronic ignition on my 5 classic cars and have gone back to points on all of them. I second the recommendation of the Distributor Doctor for parts and/or repairs

I on the other hand can report better starting, smoother idle, improved economy (an extra 2mpg roughly - but who’s counting) with electronic ignition.

I use the pertronix unit which sits hidden in the distributor and requires no modification. I had a +ve earth unit fail about 10 years ago, fortunately on my drive and despite it being well out of warranty, pertronix replaced it free of charge. 4 years ago I converted to -ve earth and have not had any problems. I do carry a spare unit just in case.

Kevin

I like Kevin run a pertronix which was fitted 12 years and 50k miles ago without any problems . Set and forget!
Obviously from the posts on this forum people have had problems with both systems. Spares for the standard system will only get harder to source and the quality maybe poor. Let us not forget that all car makers changed to some form of electronic ignition in the 1980s for very good reasons. There were some failures as one would expect but rather less than a Kettering system I would say. Plus your car stayed in tune longer without the troublesome points.
That is my opinion for what its worth
Regards
Paul