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Sun Jun 05, 2005 5:39 pm

I'm looking to buy a quality pointless distributor for my 82 air-cooled. I currently have a mechanical advance distributor which was swapped in a while back by some half assed, nonadvanced "VW" mechanic. Since then the van has never run quite as smooth as it should. :? And I burn through breaker points every five months or so. :evil: This mechanic also scrapped my deceleration valve and some related vacuum lines. I'm told that pointless distributors don't require these vacuum components, you just drop them in and retime. Is this true? If so, then this would save me the trouble of tracking down all the vacuums components needed to return the van to the way it was originally with the correct distributor.

Any body out there using one of these pointless distributors?
I almost bought one off a guy at the Maple Grove VW show today. It was a Bosch unit that he clamed I could "drop right in." He was asking $130.00 for it brand new in the box. This was a complete distributor, not to be confused with the Pertronix Igniter Electronic Innition that BusDepot sells... https://pointer.webappcabaret.net/busdepot/details.jsp?partnumber=1847V

FYI. I found this info at Type2.com:
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A vacuum advance distributor senses changes in the engine's LOAD -- and does so almost instantaneously. Mechanical advance distributors, which sense only changes in rpm, are meant for special purpose applications, such as drag racing or poorly designed multi-carb set-ups.... or moving a loaded Type II with a 25hp engine.

If you try to use a purely mechanical advance distributor in your daily driver you will have to jack-up the output of the accelerator pump, since providing a jolt of raw gas is the only way you can bump up the rpms, which is the only way you can get the advance to kick in. But before the revs can build up you waste a lot of gas. This plays hell with your fuel economy and shortens your engine's useful life at the same time.

People who run mechanical advance distributors usually have no idea how well their Volkswagen can perform.

When you go back to a vacuum advance distributor you usually see a remarkable improvement in both performance and economy. The performance-change being the typical perception of an engine that is now suddenly more responsive than before. The improvment in economy comes about because you're no longer throwing away most of the accelerator pump's output each time you shift gears or pull away from a stop.

The fact John Muir.... and all the tits & ass VW magazines.... say the mechanical advance distributor is the best thing since canned beer is no reason to assume this is true. Muir advocates any number of things that are incorrect, including many that are detrimental to your vehicle.

I've written about the vacuum vs mechanical distributor situation many times but most people still don't get it. Volkswagen -- and all other auto makers -- use vacuum-advance (or vacuum/centrifugal) because for normal driving such distributors do a better job than a purely mechanical-advance device.

Sun Jun 05, 2005 5:46 pm

I also found this one for sale over at Vanagain. http://www.vanagain.com/search_result.asp
Don't know if it requires me to replace those vacuum components though.

Sun Jun 05, 2005 5:49 pm

Well you still need a good vacuum distributor to install the petronic in. They just replace the points in there so that you don't have to adjust them. (Actually they are all vacuum & centifical advance ever since about 1971 when VW started to sue them but we still call them "vacuum" advance so that we don't confuse them with "centrifical advance" units like a 009, 010, or 050.)

So the answer is 1) find a good replacement vacuum advance distributor (ideally the correct one for your model) and install the petronics in it.

After you install the corect distributor and the petronics, you will need to re-time the engine to the VW spec. YoOu need to be at the correct idle speed also (since the centricical advance function starts to kick in about 1000 RPMs). You can not have any vacuum leaks either.

Your mechanic is not doing you any favors. You can do better. A lot better.

Sun Jun 05, 2005 6:03 pm

So do you think this guy who I spoke to was full of crap? He told me I would not need to hunt down a new deceleration valve and related vacuum lines. He said this Bosch distributor (with the electronic ignition setup built in to it) made them obsolete

Sun Jun 05, 2005 6:36 pm

Sounds like dog poop to me.

Here is what came stock for you...

Vanagon Federal 1980-1983 * 2000

Note: This Distributor also fits Type 4 (412) 1974
Distributor: VW 022-905-205S, Bosch 0231 170 093
Note: VW 021-905-205P, Bosch 022-905-205S, 0231 168 005

Timing Set At:: 7.5deg BTDC @ 850-950 rpm (Man Trans), 900-1000 rpm (Auto Trans) w/strobe, vacuum hose connected. (Bentley Table on Page 28.3 incorrectly states with hose disconnected).

Here is the important part.... the advance numbers....
Advance/Retard Range: Vacuum: 8-12deg Adv @ 7.9 In. Hg; Centrifugal: 9-14deg @ 1600 rpm, 21-25deg @ 3400 rpm

Of course a stock 205S or a 205P would be perfect for you. They are hard to come by as it seems that everyone is dropping those 009s like they should.

Other options that would work well would be a:

A new SVDA from aircooled
A new 034 from CIP1 or somebody like them
A new 205 from Bus Depot or somebody like them
Perhaps one of the used parts guys could get you a stock unit

A petronics or a compufire will fit any of them. I would order them at the same time if it were me.

No, you want and need all of those vacuum hoses to work 100% correctly and not lose vacuum anywhere. Vacuum leaks do all sorts of bad things to your FI and to running your engine too lean and hot. You cannot afford to run too hot or it will cost you some real money for new heads.

You can get by for a while without a decel valve, but it shuts off the fuel to the injectors when you abruptly get off the throttle. Otherwise the engine will backfire and kick the AFM flap so it won't want to start. It does more but I can go into it right now.

Look for one for in the classifieds (I think a 78 or 79 baywindow one will work for you). Karl or Art would know.

Sun Jun 05, 2005 9:12 pm

Thanks for the specs Randy.

Mon Jun 06, 2005 4:17 pm

OTOH, you may be able to get a decent used dizzy at your local pick-yer-part for cheap.

Along with any other missing bits (that you may or may not need but were put there for some reason in the first place although you didn't take them off so it isn't really your issue in the first place, yada, yada, yada).

Easy on the accelerator, guys.

Keep on 'dubbin'

Mike!

Wed Jun 08, 2005 9:30 am

You need something like this:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=186350
I don't know this guy or anything, so I'm not recommending it but it sounds like a good deal.
If the Bosch pointless distributer is the one I'm thinking of, it's still weighted advance, not vac.

Wed Jun 08, 2005 11:01 am

Yes you need to jump on that bad boy.

If my eyes were a little better I could almost make out the part number.