The rattling is the motor pinking - preigniting.

Suggests the timing has been set too far advanced.

Go back and ask for it to be set correctly for lead free petrol... It may originally have been set up for lead when it was manufactured...

Technically the words are: "retard the ignition timing to prevent it pinking"

hi,I took it back to the numnuts and when I got it back it was slugish and gutless but no pinkng when I timed it,it was way out from 8btd,so I moved it to 8btd.Result more acceleration but as said on came the pinking.To retard the ignition do I move the distributor back from 8 btd to say 12 btd.thanks in advance.cheers kiwishane

Hi,I plan to do some serious travel so I am or had to replace everything with r,I am leaning towards the advance mechanism how do you retard this?It was brought on e-bay through a powerseller but can not contact them for double checking if correct one has been supplied.The toyota hiace is a grey import however the company that installed it did not use a timing light so they must have used a diagnostic to do settings.So anyone who can advise on how to retard advance mechanisim,simple instruction please would be greatly appreciated.cheers kiwishane

I assume that the auto-advance works by the suction on the dizzy diaphragm from the vacuum pipe?Have you sucked on a pipe attached to the dizzy to see if c/b points plate returns freely from the advanced state...is mechanism sticking in advanced position?Compare old and new distributors to note range of movement.

Let me know if I`m off tarrget with info as it was 1978 when I last had the engine cover off a Hiace!

How about electronic ign,some units for older cars only cost £20-£30?

WOW thanks for the help and keep those ideas and suggestions comming,this gets more and more interesting and puzzeling,but there is more.This is a 1983 jap import I have spent a day trying to source information ie.leaded or unleaded what RON 91 or more or less another says use 98 RON and the concensus is retard until pinging goes the trade of is sluggish response,yep I should have got pointless unit but I got what I got.All I know is it did not ping with the old unit at 8BTDC but it was always sluggish now with the new unit at 8 BTDC it has much more grunt but pings.I will try some of your suggestions ie retard and use higher octane plus check suction.thanks in advance cheers kiwishane

But is it the right distributor. A dizzy is set with the correct timing at idle but the spec has to be correct for the advance and retard and the vacuum. Do you have a timing light so you can measure the timing at 3000 rpm. Do you have a spec for the original distributor. Regards Peter