Avonbar / avr Classics bad news
Turbo Mini Forums

Hi I never wanted to do this but earlier this year I had bother with my aldon amethyst so decided to get a high boost dizzy from Ian Hargreaves for the summer to get some use out the car once fitted we started testing the car with a phormula ks4 we had it set so no det on boost but was to retarded bottom end & could barley pull away when advanced to pull smoothly it had det on boost this was the same as my standard turbo dizzy so I called Ian said it was no good he said send it back to be checked in the mean time I got some bits & the amethyst is now working fine so asked for a refund he said there's a 20% handling charge which I agreed was fine so we're now about 3month down the line still no money returned after countless phone calls with promises of a refund I've got no part as he told me to return it so not sure where we go from here I've fb messaged him with no reply it's a joke customer service is shocking & this is my last resort I seen a guy post on his fb wall about a poor built engine & he couldn't get anything sorted iam very disappointed after all this is because the part I received in the first place was not up to the job & would of destroyed my engine if I did not have access to the phormula

I've mentioned something similar before.
I wont rant on about x y z but I won't.
Avoid full stop. !!

Have to say if this is true, and I've no reason to believe not, then this is really sad news. Ian of Avonbar when I first got interested in minis back in the late 90's was one of the good guys and spent time on the phone giving advice and information, we are talking pre internet days, I also bought stuff from him back then.
That things have got to this situation is a real shame. I hope you get things sorted.

This is the reply via fb

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I didn't have any issues.

That was an SU turbo spring though. Seemed nice enough and very helpful.

Ian is fine in all honesty very helpful & friendly but seems very reluctant to refund the money for my returned part & this was my last resort

Bad news??? Bad news is when someone dies from a heart attack or goes bankrupt.

Buying a mechanical dizzy and expecting electronic management performance from it ("when advanced to pull smoothly it had det on boost") imo is a wrong place to start with.

It's nice of Ian willing to take the item back regardless....once offering such arrangement I do agree however: pay up!

Well surely when buying a part advertising high boost distributor & it has det on boost & at 10psi may I add not the 15 i normaly run & once retarded to hold off the det you can barley pull away with the lack of advance this can't be right surely?? I ordered this with the details of the engine so should the curve not be tailored for this?

Well surely when buying a part advertising high boost distributor & it has det on boost & at 10psi may I add not the 15 i normaly run & once retarded to hold off the det you can barley pull away with the lack of advance this can't be right surely?? I ordered this with the details of the engine so should the curve not be tailored for this?

"So should the curve not be tailored for this?"

Yes it should, up to a point.....the mechanical system that a distributor consists of can only do so much. That's the true beauty of programmable ingnition, being able to dail in 50 degrees advance at part throttle/high vacuum in places, draw it back to 20 on the next load site....and have 35 at the ext etc. all in a non linear fashion, always at the optimum of what the engine likes best.

With a distributor you're basiscally stuck with what the engine needs at full load / WOT with a best possible curve for lower revs and possibly vacuum/boost conditions if the distributor comes equipped with vacuum advance and or electronic boost retard. Thist best possible curve is a actually the least worse compromise at best. Accordingly, it doesn't surprise me you're able to make your engine respond better by advancing at low revs / high vacuum up to a point where things start to det under full load/boost.

I do agree your configuration should be at least safe and driveable, but in case AVR's distributor has proven to be able to do so in many properly set up engines is the distributor delivered to you faulty or is something else wrong?

I don't know the answer to the above but there can be many more variables at stake. Why didn't the Aldon work at first?

Edited by Evoderby on 18th Sep, 2016.

I belive the distributor I received was of std turbo curve not a high boost modified item & the amethyst didn't work as the std electronic distributer has a built in amplifier & so does the amethyst so needed to be wired different with to resistors but I've changed that & bought the correct pre locked dizzy new coil & leads so the amethyst is working fine now I understand dizzys aren't perfect but buying a product advertised for the job it can't do is false advertising & I pre talked this over with Ian & he said it would be fine for my needs