Petronix for stock distributors

[amikulics]

Hello, I wanted to swap out the points on my 72 1700 bus and my 79 1600 super beetle. Both are completely stock, I can see the bus has a 205 dual vac distributor and I cannot see the number but I know the beetle has the original dual vac distributor. Most of the pointless ignition sets are made for the 009 and 050 which are mechanical advance only. Also I believe my bus is currently using cap, rotor, and points for a 009 and they work great.

From what I can tell the petronix 1847v should work for both cars but I wanted to double check. Has anyone had experience with these kits on stock distributors? And is there anything I should be looking out for with these type of kits?

[SGKent]

if you have a 1979 with FI make sure that the unit will work with that vintage FI. Many don't due to the coil wave being the primary wave FI uses to regulate fuel needed, and some of those units change the nature of the coil wave.
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“Most people don’t know what they’re doing, and a lot of them are really good at it.” - George Carlin

[Volswagon]

Mechanically you have a square, or round, hole to fill in the side.
I'll never go back to points on this Bus, unless there's a problem, or EMP attack, which I carry spare points for.
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I know the pieces fit, cos I watched them fall away.
Wanna hear God laugh? Just talk about your plans.

'75 Bus https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=697183&highlight=

[chittychittybangbang]

The Petronix units are amazing but can get smoked pretty easily, so make sure you carry your old point setup with you.
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If your into busses youve got issues and you likely don´t know it yet. - El_Güero

The question of whether the resulting usage is "correct" or "incorrect" depends on one's notion of correctness.

[Volswagon]

I wonder if the common practice of taking plug wires loose to check for misfires, noises, etc. causes most of the problems with them? Or maybe bad coils, under 3 ohms, or connecting too many loads to the primary? Poorly grounded coil?
I'm still running the only one I ever bought after at least 150K miles. My coil has the Pertronix and the factory, fused line to the relay running the fuel pump and the choke heater and heated base gasket for a Weber progressive. Never missed a lick, starts right up in any weather.
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I know the pieces fit, cos I watched them fall away.
Wanna hear God laugh? Just talk about your plans.

'75 Bus https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=697183&highlight=

[Glenn]

Or maybe they just have an unacceptable failure rate compared to production cars.
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Glenn
74 Beetle Specs | 74 Beetle Restoration | 2180cc Engine
"You may not get what you pay for, but you always pay for what you get"

Member #1009

#BlueSquare

[telford dorr]

Disconnecting plug wires is extremely hard on electronic ignitions (on ANY vehicle) - DON'T DO IT! Here's why: When the points open, or the transistor in the ignition module turns off, the coil's magnetic field collapses, and the stored energy in that field causes a high voltage pulse to be generated by the coil, which fires the spark plug. Unfortunately, a proportional voltage (as a function of the coil turns ratio) also appears at the primary side of the coil and is seen by the points or module transistor. If the plug fires, all is well and good, as the spark at the plug limits the maximum voltage from the coil. If the plug doesn't fire, this voltage can rise to very high levels on both sides of the coil. The points don't care, particularly, and the condenser can generally take a joke, but the transistor in the ignition module has no sense of humor at all, and responds by eventually breaking down and shorting. Thus, instead of disconnecting a spark plug to disable it, lift the plug wire's rubber cap and short the plug to ground with a thin wire. This will accomplish the same thing and protect the ignition module from overvoltage.
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'71 panel, now with FI
'Experience' is the ability to recognize a mistake when you're making it again - Franklin P. Jones
In theory, theory works in practice; in practice, it doesn't - William T. Harbaugh
When you're dead, you don't know you're dead. The pain is only felt by others.
Same thing happens when you're stupid. - Philippe Geluck
More VW electrical at http://telforddorr.com/ (available 9am to 9pm PST)

[amikulics]

Thanks for all the good info everyone, but is the 1847v kit the correct choice for these distributors? It seems like the FI system could be a problem with these but the dual carb system should be fine correct? Anyone had experience with an FI beetle with petronix?