Installing 123 Ignition Distributor - advice sought

[ataraxia]

[jadney]

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Note that the firing order shown here is wrong. I can see labels for cylinders 1, 2, & 3. #1 & 2 are in the right place, but #3 should be to the upper right. I assume the other wire is #4 and should be to the upper left. That will give you the correct firing order of 1 4 3 2.
_________________
Jim Adney
50+ years of VW Type 3 experience
Specializing in VW Type 3 parts and service

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Time for the walk of shame...

Just went out and swapped the #3 and #4 wires to be on the distributor as they should be per Jim's observation. Lo and behold, the thing started. I'm supposed to be working at the moment instead of fiddling with my car, so I didn't put the timing light on it yet but expect to later tonight. And I think it is probably a good time to get a new coil and plug wires too anyway.

All of that, and I had the plug wires reversed. Geezzzz.... If this was golf, I'd have to hit from the next tee box with my pants around my ankles.

Thanks for the help from everyone, and to Jim for the catch.

[KTPhil]

[ataraxia]

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[jadney]

I just can't help but comment on this thread.

The 311 905 205 L that you replaced is a very good distributor with the best advance curve of all the VW Type 3 FI distributors. Yours may have needed some TLC, but I rebuild these for $65, plus the price of any needed major parts. That includes resetting the FI trigger points, which often need attention after all this time.

It's useful to have some resistance in the HV circuit, either in the wires, the connectors or the plugs, but putting it in the plugs is the best, because they get replaced regularly anyway, so you don't have to worry about broken carbon wires, or worn out connectors that can catch you with your pants down. I don't know why ANYONE would be interested in going back to carbon core wire with all the disadvantages it has. If the 123 dislikes metal core wire, this may be because it is sensitive to the HF spark noise that the resistances are there to damp, but it's important to have some resistance in the secondary circuit SOMEWHERE. This is an extremely noisy environment; putting any kind of electronics inside a distributor is a rather daring task. They may have done it well, but it's something to consider.

Since the 123 FI distributor seems to use only the 2 outer pins of the OG trigger point connector, this means that the 123 internal circuit is grounded to the distributor body, and hence to the engine case. This means that there is now a ground loop in the FI circuit, which is simply bad electronic design. This may or may not cause problems in a particular case, but it's asking for trouble. Bosch had a good reason for avoiding this in their original d-jet design.

Frankly, I doubt if this new distributor will give any better result than a good 311 L done right. Anything else is likely to be due to a placebo effect, forced by the $$$$ spent on the 123.

Oh, and as I look at the side by side photos, it appears that the 123, with its required spacer, isn't any shorter than the OG FI 311 L.

Sorry, but I think this needed to be said.
_________________
Jim Adney
50+ years of VW Type 3 experience
Specializing in VW Type 3 parts and service

[KTPhil]

[KTPhil]

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[Tram]

[Tram]

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[ataraxia]

[KTPhil]

Show of hands... how many of us have started an engine on tune-up day before refilling the oil?

[Glenn]

[ataraxia]

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