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Fri Oct 23, 2009 4:42 am

When I bought my 69 'vert, it had the single port engine with a 30/31 carb and an 009. Car ran like a dog. Spitting, sputtering, choking out, etc. I switched to an 034 and the difference was like night and day. Ran like a dream. When I built my 1641 with ICT's (a second engine for the car), the 034 went on it. The 009 is back on the single port, keeping debris from falling in the distributor hole while the engine is in storage.

Probably the only thing it is good for.

Fri Oct 23, 2009 11:59 am

I have read all about how awful the 009 dist are, mine used to run like crap and I would have had to agree then, prior to actually properly tuning. but so far with 009 and pict 34 it runs fine, no flat spots of note, smooth and serviceable so far. Getting everything tuned properly made a big difference.When I stumble on one of the vac dist I will clean it up and properly tune it to see how much better one is but for the time being it runs fine.

Fri Oct 23, 2009 12:45 pm

Quote: Graphs are nice, but without being able it interpret them and relate the findings to real life... they a useless.

Sorry, missed this line first time around. I just think a graph would be a good starting point for anyone who decides they might want to get rid of a headache. I'm not saying to use it to preach the gospel, but it would definitely show some differences between the two distributors. It's up to the individual to interperet the information in front of them, process it and logically put it to use in their own scenario. What works well in my car may not in someone else's, but I know for a fact that even without the vacuum advance, the mechanical curve in my 205 is better than the 009.

Wed Oct 28, 2009 2:16 pm

Aright, the preliminary results are in! There is not much difference from idle to about 1200 rpm, after that it's apples and oranges. The 205 zb mechanical advance comes in way sooner than the 009. Here are the numbers: @550rpm 009-10 deg 205-10 deg, @650 009-11 deg 205-11 deg, @800 009-11 deg 205-11 deg, @1000 009-11 deg 205-12 deg, @1200 009-12 deg 205-12 deg, This is where the 009 falters! @1400 009-15 deg 205-17 deg, @1600 009-17 deg 205-23 deg, @1800 009-18 deg 205-25 deg, @2000 009-18 deg 205-25 deg, @2200 009-19 deg 205-26 deg, @2400 009-21 deg 205-28 deg, @2600 009-24 deg 205-28 deg, @2800 009-26 deg 205-30 deg, and both have max advance @3000 at 32 deg. Both were tested on the car with a tach and a strobe light, engine at operating temp after being driven the same distance (7 miles on the way home from work).

After having put some miles on it for a few days, there is one spot at 55 mph in fourth gear steady cruising, where if I tip into the throttle just a little bit, there is a barely noticeable hesitation/sneeze. The engine rpm at this point are about 2500-2600, which I noticed after having mapped the 205 out, is a spot where the advance curve flattens out momentarily. I am going to play with the secondary spring and/or try to add a tiny bit of weight to the secondary weight. Or I may try to put just another 1 or 2 degrees of initial timing into it to see if that spot will go away. Unfortunately, I said I would post the vacuum advance as well, and as I could manually advance it with a vacuum pump, I found that my cam is not conducive to producing vacuum, so as suggested by Glen, for my purpose this will be a mechanical only distributor.

Thu Nov 05, 2009 8:51 am

I have heard many people say that 009s suck, but over the years whenever I aquired a VW eith a stock vacuum advance distributor and moved to an 009 I always, bar none, got a very noticable increase in power and acceleration over the stock dizzy. This was with no other modifications. There were no exception that I can remember. the only noticable advantage to the stock vacuum advance was the ability to be sloppier with the pedals during shifting. I have no quantifiable data to support this but it was too noticable to be placedo. Perhaps I am just the lucky sort :D

Thu Nov 05, 2009 9:06 am

This may be a stupid question to ask but I will try.

With a Hi-Po engine, is it better to run a 010 or a vacuum advanced unit provided the carbs do offer a vacuum port?

Thu Nov 05, 2009 9:17 am

jl_1303 wrote: This may be a stupid question to ask but I will try.

With a Hi-Po engine, is it better to run a 010 or a vacuum advanced unit provided the carbs do offer a vacuum port?
I tried a 034 SVDA on my 1904 with dual Dellortos for a week and the 010 provided much better performance.

Thu Nov 05, 2009 10:11 am

Glenn, what are the advance chracteristics on the 010 distributor?

Also, what is your opinion of the 050 distributor?

Due to driving the car everyday, I have not been able to play with the springs/weights yet. It will be getting parked for the winter soon though, at which point I will be doing many things to it, including messing with the distributor. Also just got a hold of some cooling flaps and am working on getting the thermostat and rod on trade. Seems like I kept all the wrong parts, and threw away all the right ones. Made the dumb mistake of ripping it all out and throwing it away years ago. D'OH!!!

Thu Nov 05, 2009 9:08 pm

spiderjames wrote: I have heard many people say that 009s suck, but over the years whenever I aquired a VW eith a stock vacuum advance distributor and moved to an 009 I always, bar none, got a very noticable increase in power and acceleration over the stock dizzy. This was with no other modifications. There were no exception that I can remember. the only noticable advantage to the stock vacuum advance was the ability to be sloppier with the pedals during shifting. I have no quantifiable data to support this but it was too noticable to be placedo. Perhaps I am just the lucky sort :D

James, lots of folks have noticed what you describe... I was one "back in the day" that felt that you could "feel" an improvement.... Unfortunately, since the mechanical advance(especially the 009) is more "peaky" feeling it gives the illusion of better accelleration and more "power"... the smooth delivery of a good mechanical plus vacuum feels ho-hum but actually performs better in nearly every case for a streetcar(obviously this is more toward stock-ish engines)... that's why lots of us folks have boxes of old 009's that we've removed over the years....

Wed Mar 31, 2010 1:31 pm

It's been awhile...
Unfortunately (for the car) my wife and I found out around Christmas that she is pregnant... with twins... identical boys...and we already have two girls... one of which is only ten months old... so we will have three in diapers as she is due on July 10! So my entire winter has been filled with finishing the basement so we have a place to house all these people! My garage is full of stuff from the basement and my Beetle has been in my mom's garage since December 16. But I checked here on the samba today and between that and the 68 degree weather in southeast Michigan today, it makes me think I should go get the car. With four kids in the near future, it may be time to trade for a transporter.... :D

Thu Apr 15, 2010 7:41 am

[quote="Paul Windisch"]Also, what is your opinion of the 050 distributor?quote]

from what i've been told the 050 dizzy does not retard the 3rd cylinder. so in the case that you do not run a doghouse, this one is ideal!

Thu Apr 15, 2010 8:15 am

Just stock late model shroud, with the oil cooler in front of the shroud and the deflector around that. It blows the hot oil cooler air outside the rest of the cooling tin.