Distributor query & others

["John Fielding" <johnf@domain.elided>]

I have an Alfa Romeo 1800cc twin cam motor and the distributor has no vacuum advance
connection.

I saw an identical engine yesterday with the same carbs (2 x 40DCOE Webers) which had
the vacuum advance fitted.  Is this a modified distributor?  Some one said it could be a
VW part fitted by a previous owner.  Any comments from the list?

BTW  I just bought the car to convert for hill climbs etc.   (159i without the FI)

Also the gear linkage has about a yard of slack.  Is this easy to sort out?  Not crawled
under the back-end yet to take a peek.

Any thoughts on lightening the flywheel for a better pick-up?  It seems very heavy in
standard form!

Machining facilties a-plenty here, so no job too big or too small!

John