Hokay,
So some of you may have seen my posts about my lil' Uno 45 - I had the head off it a few months ago because it bombed out on it's MOT, and a few people here gave me a lot of advice - thanks guys
Now, I had it all back together, and took it out to the MOT test center to get it's welding done and then it would pass it's MOT, no probs (even got a mechanic to check it over for me the day before). So i'm driving down there, and it cuts out. It was a warm day, so I pulled over and waited - I know the distributors sometime go weird when they get warm...
2 hours later, my dad is towing me home in it - the ignition system has totally died :-(
I got the coil off and tested it, played around with all the HT leads, had the distributor apart and everything seemed fine - it all points to the 'Breakerless' black box that sits next to the coil.
Over the next week I'd been to nearly 20 different yards trying to get a replacement, and I still can't find one (this was a month or two ago - had no money recently so put the car on hold until I can get back from uni to fix it).
As far as I can tell, I have 2 options.

1. Someone can help me get the replacement - from what I've seen at different yards/parts stockists, these are very hard to get hold of, so I'm hoping someone might be breaking an Uno with a similar ignition system. Here are pictures of the coil and the black box that I need to replace... Like I said, this seems to be the hardest option and I've exhausted all of the sources I have atm. My question for this option is... Can/Is anyone willing to sell me the parts?

2. A guy I knew from college has an Uno and has reliably informed me that it is possible to simply change the distributor and the rest of the ignition system with one out of a slightly newer mark 1 1108cc model (mine is the 999cc), which is apparently slightly different and easier to obtain.
A few other guys I know reckon that it is possible, but I'll have to change the camshaft as well as the distributor drive is slightly different - this being possible due to the fact that the 1108 and 999cc engines share the same head, and the difference in size is in the cylinder stroke, so they are essentially swappable (although the new camshaft will have a slightly different profile and so would let more fuel in - can someone verify this?). It would be nice if this were possible as I've seen literally hundreds of newer Unos with the different (clip-on as opposed to screw on) distributor cap (and I assume, different distributor), and I can probably get the parts pretty sharpish...

Sorry for the long post/rambling... It would be great if anyone could give me a point in the right direction here (My uno manual is in a box at home, packed away because I'm going to uni at the end of the week )
Thanks again,

Matt

Hi Matt,

What colour is the distributor cap? I’m thinking it’s black, and you have the Ducellier distributor – like my Bianca had. I think this distributor was also fitted to some Pandas.

When working on the MK1 with Lumpy idol, Chas (AKA 1986Uno45S) swapped the distributor (with black cap) for his Magneti Marelli (white cap) and it worked as before.

I can’t remember if he changed the coil over too (I don’t think so but not 100% sure). The MK1 999 Uno had both types of distributor fitted. I guess it was down to the luck of the draw, which you got , but they are interchangeable.

Hopefully Chas will confirm which bits he swapped when he is online again.

Regards,
Louie.

It is the black one - if I can do a straight swap then that would be lovely - but do the engines with the newer distributors have a different ignition system or is it just the distributor?
I noticed that on some of them, the coil/controller unit mounted on the nearside strut was different - would it be possible to take this and the distributor from a newer engine and stick it straight on mine?
I guess they are all questions for Chas really, but thanks for your help

I wouldn’t say the white cap distributor is newer then the black cap. Chas’s uno is a 1986, Bicanc is a 1988

Hmm – I’m not totally sure about any Differences between carb and IE Magneti Marelli distributor (white cap).

I know the later IE coil has a few more connections (picture here https://www.fiatforum.com/showpost.php?p=347693&postcount=9 ) . Shame I can’t recall if Chas switched coil too.

Regards,

geeker said:

1. Someone can help me get the replacement - from what I've seen at different yards/parts stockists, these are very hard to get hold of, so I'm hoping someone might be breaking an Uno with a similar ignition system. Here are pictures of the coil and the black box that I need to replace... Like I said, this seems to be the hardest option and I've exhausted all of the sources I have atm. My question for this option is... Can/Is anyone willing to sell me the parts?

Click to expand...

You should be able to by the 'black box' on it's own. I know that you could buy the Magnetti Marelli version - have you tried a Car Parts shop?

geeker said:

2. A guy I knew from college has an Uno and has reliably informed me that it is possible to simply change the distributor and the rest of the ignition system with one out of a slightly newer mark 1 1108cc model (mine is the 999cc), which is apparently slightly different and easier to obtain.
A few other guys I know reckon that it is possible, but I'll have to change the camshaft as well as the distributor drive is slightly different - this being possible due to the fact that the 1108 and 999cc engines share the same head, and the difference in size is in the cylinder stroke, so they are essentially swappable (although the new camshaft will have a slightly different profile and so would let more fuel in - can someone verify this?). It would be nice if this were possible as I've seen literally hundreds of newer Unos with the different (clip-on as opposed to screw on) distributor cap (and I assume, different distributor), and I can probably get the parts pretty sharpish...

Click to expand...

The mk1 came with the 999cc FIRE engine, but never with the 1108cc version - only mk2's did!

Funnily enough, I'd never seen a Uno fitted with the Ducellier distributor until I worked on Louie's Bianca. All Uno's and Panda's I'd seen had the Magnetti Marelli dizzy. Louie will confirm the look on my face when I saw his distributor - I think I said something along the lines of "What the f**k is that???"

Magnetti Marelli and Ducellier distributors are a straight swap going by Louie's 1988 Bianca. On that I swapped my 1986 Magnetti dizzy for the 1988 Ducellier. All worked fine, and there was no need to change the coil. It's a straight swap, and you do not need to change the camshaft.

Look for a white cap Magnetti Marelli distributor in a scrapyard, which was fitted to most FIRE engined mk1 Unos and Pandas. Also check the early carburettor Uno mk2's as they also had it. The SPI i.e. models I'm not sure if it is the same, but I know for sure that the coils are different. They MIGHT be the same as a mk1, but don't quote me on that

Apparently a camshaft swap is a good way of extracting extra power. Smokeme (races a FIRE engined turbo charged Panda check out his website and postings in the Panda section) has done a lot of research and found some interesting facts.

The 1108cc camshaft does have a different profile/ lift and will liberate some extra power. So does the Panda 4x4 with the 1.0 litre FIRE (it has 50hp compared with the Uno's 45). However, I don't think the 1108 had that much extra power, maybe about 55hp. The standard FIRE engines are in a very low state of tune for what they can handle.

The way to go is to get the Punto 75 camshaft. That on it's own apparently can release over 60 hp from the 999 FIRE without doing anything else. For better results, use the complete head from the Punto 75 as it has bigger valves and can flow more air/ fuel. Smokeme reckons it is a straight swap onto a 999!

However, if you have a carburettor Uno you'll run into a problem with fueling, as the Punto 75 camshaft doesn't have the lobe on it to drive the fuel pump. This might also apply to the Punto 60/ Cinquecento Sporting engine as well, though obviously the 1108cc carb mk2 doesn't have this problem.

There's nothing to stop you from fitting an electric fuel pump if you do want to try the Punto 75 camshaft.

Best of luck, and let the forum know how you get on.

Chas

I just had a thought - how exactly would I test the coil?
What I did was check the resistances across the primary and secondary windings, which all seemed to be fine.. Is there anything else I could do to test it?
Although everything points to it being the ignition controller - it could be the coil and I just want to double check.

Also, can you recommend any places that would sell the black box? I've rang round a few places near me but none of them seem to be able to supply it, hence the long trawl around pretty much every scrapyard in leicestershire
A search on google reveals lots of portal sites, but nothing that seems to be an actual parts stockist - eBay turns up nothing, and all the fiat dealers in the yellow pages just tell me to try a scrapyard...

Thanks for the tip for the punto 75 head. I'm trying to get as much done on this engine as possible without increasing the actual capacity too much, as my insurance company doesn't seem to mind what I do so long as it doesn't go above 999cc, I'll look out for a 75 now... You should know better than to give me ideas like this

Thanks for your help so far