Getting ready to install my 123 distributor and had some not obvious to me questions I'd like to get answered before starting. This is for a stock 2.0L D-Jet motor.

1) The instructions don't say how to wire the trigger points. Does yellow wire go to 22 and white goes to 21? I assume they are not interchangeable.

2) The instructions say to turn the body until you see the green led (when #1 is at TDC). Is seeing the green led the same as lining up the rotor onto the scribed line on the stock distributor? Does rotating the body just expose the green led that is always on?

3) Is it correct you cannot set timing via Bluetooth? Initial timing needs to be set with a timing light and Bluetooth can be used to shift the curve? In any case all Bluetooth changes are relative to initial settings and are not absolute to crank position?

4) Vacuum port is for advance only?

5) Do most of you cut the wires to the coil to length or is best to keep them at original length?

Any other tips would be appreciated.

Just my Tips
Using carbs with no vacuum advance so can't answer your first question
Trim the wires but leave extra in case you ever reposition your coil

Start with #1 @TDC and confirm with the mark on your fly wheel

With the old dizzy in Pull back the rear Tin so you can see the top of the fly wheel
Take the rotor cap off ,Place the car in gear and push the car to move the Rotor , having it point to just past 10 o’clock (10:30) Now look and see if you have the mark on the flywheel lined up to the engine case halves
If you do you know your at TDC for Cylinder 1 remove the dizzy install your 123 dizzy follow instructions
Adjust for green light etc. . After installing the wires if the car wont start ….. turn your installed Dizzy with cap on by hand 5 degrees at a time counter clockwise and try to start the car .
I spent way too long Re-installing and following the directions Perfectly and setting up for the green light Thinking I missed a step in the 123 instructions for the car never to start .
When I finally turned the whole dizzy with the cap on about 12 degrees counterclockwise the car fired up .
The next day I even set the car at TDC on the flywheel and pulled the cap No green light with my current settings

Once the Car is running with the 123
Step #2 Calibrate it As Jake mentioned a lot easier as a one man job to Set everything across the grid at 10% in your program and then Time from the mark on the flywheel/case halves Timing Gun in hand set to 10 rotate the 123 to get a consistent 10 moving to any RPM you can see the mark waiver a little and then catch up and line up to the setting. lock down the 123 you are now calibrated Display shows 10 and Car is at 10 (123 now has its reference point ) you can put the timing gun away now
Now Plot your setting in the App only to reach your engines timing settings and Drive

Going through this myself. Re: 1), 123Ignition has this diagram on their website:
Click to view attachment

The FI points connection is specific, the car will start with the connection either way but there will be a noticeable lack of power, just switch the connections.
What I found about installation is, setting the green light is just for you to set cylinder 1, just like the line on the edge of the stock dizzy.
At this point once the cap is on, have someone crank the engine, gently turn the dizzy clockwise and than counterclockwise till it fires, let it warm up and set the timing as usual.
Once the timing is set you won’t need to do it again, but you need to set the advance curve. Depending on your FI setup (model year) whether advance or retard is utilized, some years have both but retard is used the reduce idle speed.
I am not using the vacuum for any purpose other than to monitor engine vacuum, works for me.

Thanks mgphoto. You mention "setting the advance curve". Could you comment on the basic steps to do that with the bluetooth version of the 123Ignition?

The advance curve really isn’t, it’s a straight line, you set a base, I span several idle rpms with the same degrees of advance to prevent idle oscillation, then it’s a straight line to 3500 rpm to max out at 27 degrees. I ignore the retard with a straight line for the vacuum.


Click to view attachment



Click to view attachment

Here you see I’ve pulled the advance back by 1 degree, I can now use 91 octane down from 93.

The trigger point male contacts seem to large for the harness. Did anyone have to cut off the 123 contacts and replace with smaller ones or should they fit?

They fit.

Yes, the fit, you just have to wiggle them in.

I just finished installing the 123 disty in my '74 2.0. Started right up, easy to program, and it runs and accelerates so smoothly it's amazing! If anyone needs a stock distributor from last century to use for target practice, let me know

Need more help.

I got the 123 installed and kept on manually advancing until the car started. Created a 10 BTDC program (and "write" it) and adjusted timing manually to 10 BTDC. Locked down the dizzy.

The car won't start cold or hot. To start the car I have to unlock the dizzy and start manually advancing until it fires.

Does the 123 automatically go to the 500 rpm advance when starting?

What am I doing wrong?

Car started fine with my stock distributor.

You haven’t set the timing correctly, create a curve with a high advance of 28 at 3200 rpms, with the vacuum plugged rev the engine to 3500 set the timing to the 27 degree mark.
Now you can edit the curve to 27 degrees.

So create and load a curve to 28 at 3200. If I rev to 3500 123 will time 28, but then I will manually set it back a degree? Then edit the curve to 27 at 3200 and reload to car?

Okay, so I'm stupid, but I don't understand. Using a blue coil. Is that a problem? When trying to start I feel like I'm not getting either spark or fuel.

What you are doing is confusing timing with advance.

You must set the timing than adjust advance.


If you set the advance to 27, to only way the unit knows the advance point 27 is in relation to the timing.
If you set the timing to 27 and limit the advance to 10, that’s as far as the advance will let it.

Highland, I followed these instructions and it worked for me. It will get you to where the car starts and runs, then after step 8 you can set the advance using the 123 app (no need to turn the disty):

https://123ignitionusa.com/installation-procedure/

Still having problems starting hot or cold. When it does start it sounds really bad for about 5~10 seconds missing like it's starving for fuel or spark. But once running it runs great. I have a more steady idle and smoother operation than with stock.

The timing is set to 27 BTDC at 3500 with the gun and idle is set at 14 BTDC. This is verified with the light gun and the 123 app. They match so I assume everything is calibrated.

Is it possible 123 is not firing the trigger points during starting, but fires them once the car is running?

Any other ideas?

Possibly the AAR not functioning or MPS needs slight adjustment?
Do you have an AFR meter to check air / fuel ratio?
Also I try high speed “stress” runs to test for ping, I use a long uphill stretch of freeway flat out, if I have pre-ignition I’ll see it there.

I think 14 degrees at idle sounds high, higher advance means higher idle, also means higher temps, high mid curve advance numbers adds additional heat, a very bad thing for air cooled engine.

But running good is a great beginning.

After the car is warm does it start and idle fine?

14 is way too high at idle.

Okay, I'll lower the idle advance. Just seems to run happy there. Does not start good under any circumstance. When I can finally get it to start, it coughs and sputters for a few seconds before I can finally get it to run with the throttle. But once started, the car has never run better.

I feel like it's either not getting spark or fuel during the starting process. Was going to check fuel pressure today. All connections are good.

Try giving the engine 1/3 throttle when starting, push the pedal down before turning the key to the on position, this prevents the acceleration pulses from the TPS, we are trying to introduce more air, don’t pump the throttle, that introduces more fuel, until it fires up.

Try this hot and cold.

Yeah, agree. I do this as well when the car is warm just out of habit. Nice to see others have independently found it helps.

There is something strange going on if it is starting hard and doesn't like normal advance at startup.

Where is your idle richness knob set on the ecu?

Is your AAR perfect? Your cold start valve working correctly?
If I were you, I would check that fuel pressure first. Then get the car nice and warmed up and play with the ecu knob at idle with your timing set to the correct timing advance at 900 rpm 7?9? Is your car idling at 900? Then plug the AAR. See if it makes a difference at startup. Disconnect the leads to the cold start injector and see if that matters at start up.

I believe this happens because I am using a later replacement head temp sensor, there is a thread about the sensor superhawk966 mentions the 311 version that is available has a richer response in the low temp zones, this would necessitate more air to compensate until the engine is up to operating temperature.

I believe there is also some evidence that the cht is registering a cooler(?) temp during warm starts. I might have it backwards.

So I thought I'd update in case anyone else runs into the same issue and maybe to get some guidance of my stock distributer situation.

Prior to the 123 distributor install I was using a stock distributor with Pertronix 1. Car started cold no problem with throttle closed. I got pretty consistent hot starts by cycling the gas pedal 5 times (firing TPS) then starting with throttle full open. To get the car running right I had a ~650 ohm resistor inline with the CHT.

As the thread has documented that setup did not work with the 123 distributor.

Currently the car starts hot or cold with gas pedal all the way down prior to ignition on (to avoid firing the TPS). Runs great. Steady idle. Timing set at 8 at idle and 27 at 3500. I only have an O2 sensor on #3 exhaust pipe, but it reads around 13 at idle and at 3000 rpm 5th gear cruise 14. The 123 has really improved engine performance and is running well now.

I did a lot of things, but the ones below seem to make a difference:

- Re-gapped the spark plugs to 0.7 mm. The gaps were all a little large. All the plugs look about the same as the one shown. This plug is post trying to tune with the 123 distributor. I'm guessing that's the reason for the rich mixture carbon build-up.

Click to view attachment

- Removed the 650 ohm inline CHT resistor.

- Richened the MPS by about a quarter turn of the inner screw.

So why such a big difference with my old dizzy? I thought perhaps my old dizzy had a weak spark, but wouldn't I need a leaner mixture to light off? Was my old dizzy missing allowing a longer coil dwell time and stronger spark? Or should I just leave it a mystery and tuning an art.

Side question. Do most of you torque spark plugs to 25 ft-lb with copper paste or should it be less with the copper paste?

Book some time on a Sun Distributor machine, I understand Jay Leno has one.
You’ll probably find that you’re original distributor has many issues, ie leaking or wrong vacuum can, sticking points plate, missing circlip, worn shaft, spacers and fiber washer.
All of these contribute to distributor problems.

You removed the resister (which added fuel) and than you made the MPS run richer, 6 of one half dozen of another.

I don’t use anything on the plug threads, thread compounds create connection issues, I only pull them when the engine is cold, I usually just feel for the gasket crush, when installing, hey the original tool for the plugs was a plug shaped tube and the jack bar for leverage.