Bosch electronic ignition

[djbender@domain.elided]

     At the AROSC Willow Springs time trial last weekend my distributor cap 
     and rotor destroyed themselves.  My best guess is that I had not 
     tightened the screws holding down the rotor tight enough.
     
     Anyway, for once I was in luck.  Alan Ward (the same Alan Ward of Ward 
     and Deane) was there in support of Phyllis Gaylard time trialing her 
     car (the same one Alan races in VARA, and the same one shown in the 
     IAP catalog).  Alan had a complete spare Bosch distributor from a 
     later car (mid-80's Spider???) which he loaned me for the rest of the 
     weekend.
     
     What I had before was a stock Marelli distributor converted to 
     electronic with the Crane XR 3000 kit in the IAP catalog.  This 
     includes an external control module which is rather large and 
     unsightly.  
     
     We simply unplugged the Crane module from the distributor and coil.  
     We then removed my distributor and installed the Bosch one in its 
     place.  The Bosch distributor had two wired coming out of it, and we 
     connected these to the coil.  Retime the distributor, and done!
     
     So my question is, is a Bosch distributor from a mid-80s Spider a 
     plug-in electronic ignition for any 4-cylinder car?  And if so, why 
     not just pick up a used one of these instead of paying a couple 
     hundred bucks for Crane or other new type electronic ignition?  Are 
     there significant performance advantages with the new ones?  (I notice 
     the Bosch units are $160 brand new in the IAP catalog).
     
     Doug Bender

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