Astra and nova distributors?

[NovaBoi92]

I have a 1.6 carb'd engine in my nova, from a 1989 1.6 mk2 astra. The engine didnt come with a distributor but i had one lying about from a nova 1.6 gsi engine. I fitted this distributor on the engine and recently got it timed up with a timing light and on idle its fine, but when you rev it you can hear is misfiring/pinking/generally running like sh*t. the vacuum advance is working fine. I went to vauxhall to compare part numbers, and the man said the the part numbers for the astra and nova dizzy were different, but he didnt seem too sure or too convincing. So what im asking is from everyone's experience/knowledge on here - are they different? This is the same looking distributor that i am using now:



But although they may look the same, im thinking maybe the internals are different? But also on ebay is this, which also says for mk2 astra 1.6

please help

[tommy8252]

If the nova dizzy is from a gsi its completely the wrong type to run on your carbed engine as the gsi dizzy is electronic and doesn't have a vaccum advance. Seems like you have a nova carb dizzy, 1.4 or similar. Have you tried advancing and retarding the dizzy to cure the pinking/missing?

[NovaBoi92]

yeah ive tried advancing and retarding it. sometimes it gets worse and sometimes it gets better. The engine i have does have a vacuum advance, its mounted up on the bulkhead and has a plug going to it (im pretty sure its the vac advance) so what your saying is the nova gsi dizzy im using, doesnt work with the vacuum advance?

[tommy8252]

The gsi dizzy isn't a conventional dizzy, it uses a hall effect sensor to distribute the spark via the ecu. You need a dizzy from a carb engine rather than the injection type dizzy you have now.

[NovaBoi92]

this astra engine i have uses the electronic ignition setup with the ecu that just controls ignition, is this not the same as the gsi's ?

[tommy8252]

Oh right, my mistake didn't realise that was the case. Well then I am absolutely no help to you whatsoever, sorry

[NovaBoi92]

oh crap thanks anyway! anyone else help please?!

[bazil]

Tommy your on the right track, the gsi ( E16SE ) used hall effect in partnership with the Bosch AFM, it's a fully electronic system that won't work on a vacuum setup, the black dizzy in the picture is a Lucas unit used on late E16's and the red cap one is a Bosch used on early E16,

The hall sensor adjusted the ignition timing and also worked with the afm to optimise the injection cycle.

[NovaBoi92]

thanks bazil, so despite looking the same, the distributor im using is completely different to the proper astra one meant for this engine?

[bazil]

This is a vacuum dizzy from a cav mk2 1600 carb engine, this should be the type of thing you need