norseman said:

My '87 RRC had it's original dissy mounted ignition amplifier replaced last summer with the later remote amp. purchased from a 'well known' supplier of aftermarket ign. components for classic cars. Five months & very few miles later it failed so the supplier replaced the amp under warranty & I purchased a 'matching' ign. coil as well, just in case there was a mismatch with the virtually new coil already on the car.
Now only three months later the car is exhibiting early signs of the same problem, so my take is that both the amps are rubbish.

I realise that there is every chance that these replacements all come from the same www.weproducecrap.com but has anyone found a better source?
Cheers guys.

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norseman said:

My '87 RRC had it's original dissy mounted ignition amplifier replaced last summer with the later remote amp. purchased from a 'well known' supplier of aftermarket ign. components for classic cars. Five months & very few miles later it failed so the supplier replaced the amp under warranty & I purchased a 'matching' ign. coil as well, just in case there was a mismatch with the virtually new coil already on the car.
Now only three months later the car is exhibiting early signs of the same problem, so my take is that both the amps are rubbish.

I realise that there is every chance that these replacements all come from the same www.weproducecrap.com but has anyone found a better source?
Cheers guys.

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discool said:

Assume the amp is a pattern part of RTC5089 that you’re fitting.
Haven’t you tried fitting the genuine part STC1184G three pin module remotely with its extension lead this amp as this supersedes the RTC item

I see here’s already a few threads on this subject.

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norseman said:

Thanks for that info. I'll look into it. I had assumed that such genuine parts were either no longer available or more likely the same inferior quality as the aftermarket offerings.

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Datatek said:

In my youth, Lucas was known as the prince of darkness as their stuff was so unreliable.

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norseman said:

I remember that, along with the Lucas light switch having 3 positions .. dim, flicker & off

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Rangieman123 said:

The ignition amplifier must have an earth, through its two mounting screws. Its relocation is a very good idea but relying on the inner wing of a RRC as an earth can be a gamble due to corrosion. I'd suggest running a wire from the amp and earth it on the dizzy if it has a male spade poking out near the original amp location, or to an eyelet terminal on the water pump.
I'd also keep the wires from the dizzy to the new amp location away from close proximity to any HT leads. The amp can pickup erroneous signals. I have seen this before.
The air gap inside the dizzy between rotor and Hall sensor is important but its a pain to check due to the tamper proof screws holding the protection cap on.

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norseman said:

Thanks for that. The remote amp is mounted on a aluminium bracket (that came with the kit from PowerSpark) bolted onto the inner wing.
Is aluminium a sound earthing material in the same way as steel is though ?

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Datatek said:

Aluminum is a good conductor, I would follow the advice above^^^ and add an earth wire from the bracket to a suitable point on the engine or if possible to the battery negative in a reasonably heavy gauge wire .

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norseman said:

Thanks for that. The remote amp is mounted on a aluminium bracket (that came with the kit from PowerSpark) bolted onto the inner wing.
Is aluminium a sound earthing material in the same way as steel is though ?

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discool said:

Was the amp already screw on the alloy bracket, which is also acts as a heat sink, if no you didn’t forget to smear the mating surface with MS4 silicone grease amp or an equivalent heat contacting compound if not the amp could go faulty sooner or latter.

As for the separate earth, what earth would that be? the only grounding required and that is done via the amps alloy back plate when screw to the the alloy mounted bracket, all the electrical links required are in the patch lead between the amp and distributor.

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Ratae said:

As they don't like spending money I doubt they would have bothered if it wasn't necessary & I'm inclined to think it was probably showing up in numbers on vehicles during the warranty period.

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norseman said:

nb: I'm not convinced that the industry's decision to re-locate the Amp from it's original position on the side of the distributor (due to the risk of heat damage?) was really necessary. Obviously I don't know if the original factory fitted Amp had ever been replaced prior to my purchase of the RR, but it took 15 years for it to fail in my ownership whereas the new remote only took 5 months

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discool said:

Anyway. My disco is 26 years old plus and the ignition amplifier is untouched and mounted on the same alloy bracket that the coil is clamped to, the bracket is retained to the slam panel with a single nut & bolt, so giving a satisfactory “earth” and its in a ideal position so LR can terminated the braided earth strip from the engine block also on this bolt, again never had any issues, plug and lead change thats it.

No additional earth wiring required, perhaps LR know best

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