Do they have vacuum advance? My friend's car does and it puzzles me that a computer controlled ignition would have it... of course, I'm not familiar with the system so you know how it goes.

Where's the ECU hookup at on the distro?

-Steve

 

Not all LG4's were created equal.

There's 3rd gen LG4's delivered in the US, they all had computer controls and did not have vacuum advance.

There's 3rd gen LG4's delivered in Canada, they did not have computer control carb or ignition, and did have vacuum/mechanical advance.

Then there's truck/van LG4's, they're all weird. I have an '84 G20 van, orginally delivered with an LG4 (has a Goodwrench 350 now), it has a computer, a 4-wire flat connector coming off the distributor, and vacuum/mechanical advance. If you disconnect the 4-wire, it won't run. But, I can't see that the computer "controls" anything like timing. Go figure. (When I first got the van from my brother-in-law, somebody had spliced two of the 4 wires together and left the connector disconnected. It must have been done while trying to figure out why the 305 didn't have any power, before the 350 was installed.)

Oh, I gave it away. The ECM connector to the computer controlled distributor is a flat 4-wire connector coming off the distributor base.

 

My friend's LG4 definitely has a vacuum advance can coming off the distributor... very strange. I wonder if his car could be canadian? Are the other ways of identifying a Canada car? (VIN?)

 

In the 80's, a lot of cars were converted to the old system when the slightest thing went wrong. Unless he's had this car since it rolled out of the showroom, there's no way of knowing what may have been done to it.

If the car was US delivered, there was a decal under the hood stating its emissions certification. Of course, a lot of those are gone now, too.