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Sun Apr 20, 2014 9:52 pm

Purchased a remanufactured distributor, for my 87 Westy due to the hall sensor plastic mounting being broken on my old one, and the price difference between the sensor repair kit and complete rebuilt unit was minimal so I went for the complete rebuilt unit. When I received it, it came with the newer style cap that is the black plastic instead of the reddish brown style on my old distributor. This new one is listed as fitting 89-91 model years and it looks like it doesn't use the metal noise cover with the braided ground strap to the distributor body. Now has me wondering if there is any advantage disadvantage to one style vs. the other? Is there any operational differences between them and is the new style an upgrade of some kind or was it just some kind of cost cutting move by VW to use the same part in more vehicles. I still have a new spare one of the older style and can use either one. If anyone knows why the change and if there is any true benefit to the newer one I would appreciate the enlightenment. Thanks

Sun Apr 20, 2014 10:10 pm

I haven't cut one open but I was told by a parts salesman that the metal shield is built inside the plastic and connected to the metal piece that is held down by the clip on the distributor. If it's in there, it must be pretty thin.

Ed

Mon Apr 21, 2014 6:18 am

On my 84 I just swapped the original metal shield onto the rebuilt dizzy I installed.

Mon Apr 21, 2014 6:30 am

I steer clear of the black plastic covers, they hide an important area to be inspected.
last week,250m miles from home, my 2.1 started acting funny. Idled fine, ran down the highway at 70 fine. It stumbled terribly between 1200 and 2000 rpm.
Long story short, my fairly new dist cap was arcing under that little cover, and it took a while to figure it out. I came home without the cover, with no ill effects.