The engines been out and heads off and they have been lapped and refitted as it was a bit fumey through the air vents
The compression was good,it's a fairly low mileage engine with no bore wear,the bored were lighty honed as well
The mechanic is a friend of mine who also does the 24hr 2cv racing as a pit mechanic ,he has taken 3 of these off other cars and cured this problem,and he just said remove it and go back to points.but being as I work in electronics it seems a backwards step to me and I'd rather sort out the system as it is.i don't want to buy a new 123 though and end up with it being exactly the same,so I'm changing the regulator box next and see if that has any effect on it.

Then it must be Rick the gearbox man, I've met him at Spa. He has driven the round over Spa with me in the 1-2-Spark testcar, unfortunally the ignition wouldn't work when we wanted to drive, it was do to an connecter-fault I've installed in my car to test all the units going to the clients...... (so had nothing to do with 1-2-spark)
He has ordered 2 ignitions...... I think I can deliver them in 2 weeks from now...

As you say the battery is a new one, and you've tried connecting the 123 directly to it, then I can't see that the 123 is ever going to get more voltage than that. Whatever you do with the alternator or regulator, you won't get anything out of them at cranking speeds, so the 123 will always start up on one cylinder, surely it wasn't designed like that.
Were you suggesting that the low voltage is preventing the engine from picking up, could it be the other way around? The engine isn't picking up enough for the alternator to start charging, could even be a vicious circle.
I think it'd be worth trying a set of points to see if it cures it, if it does then you can run it like that while the 123 is sent away for repair.

it does seem like a vicious cycle of low voltage due to low revs and wont rev due to low volatge
Well fitted a new electronic voltage regulator yesterday,it may have improved I wont know until ive had a few cold starts.
The light have lost the flicker at idle and this morning it started as usual on one cylinder but picked up on the 2nd much quicker than normal,after about 5 seconds ( it has been know to chug away for a minute before now ! )
Cant send it back to be looked at as I need the car for work everyday and ive no points box,but if its going to start after 5 seconds I may just put up with it.

So long as the alternator's healthy, then as soon as the engine's running there'll be well north of 12v, if not the full 14-anna-bit charging.

The only time low voltage would play a part is if the battery's a bit soft and it won't start. So long as it starts, you can rule low voltage out.

Well after a week of cold starts it does seem better with the new regulator fitted,it still chugs on 1 cylinder but not for as long as it normally did.
I have soldered the 2 cable connectors now and out of interest clipped a multimeter on it whilst it was doing its 1 cylinder chugging and it read 12.2 volts so I guess that does rule out low voltage now
I will probably just carry on and see how it is and maybe fit a points box in the new year unless I can find a used 123 to try

Been using the Ami for the past few weeks and the old problem is still there

I was hoping someone might have a used 123 module I can borrow to rule it out before I search for points or splash out on a new 123
Thanks
Matt

Spark plug gap reduced from .7 to .4 has definetely helped

Taken the 123 off Gerty & put points back on, starts much easier on both now. Several people tell me this is a 'charecteristic' of 123, I've used them for @ least 5 years and this winter is the first time I encountered it.

mine was purchased in 2006 about 3 yrs before i bought the car,so I didnt have the points to put back on.Ive managed to get a points box with points and a condensor,just need to find the arm/weights to go with it and I will be taking mine off.
The guy who runs 123 has been helpful and i will be sending it back to get it checked,if its faulty they will repair it for 50 euros i think plus whatever it costs to post
The did change something on the design 8 yrs ago , probably due to the fuel change i guess?

The cars always been a pain to start in the winter and this is the last thing to change , i would consider just buying another one but its too much money if it makes no difference.