Distributor 113905205T rebuild *PIC Heavy*

[Pruneman99]

The felt patch is nestled inside the body of the distributor in the shaft portion. To get it, you need to remove the dog and pull the central shaft out of the body. Then use a dental pick from the bottom of the distributor to fish it out of the recess it sits in. I've been told some distributors don't have this, but every one OG one I've checked did. Including big cap cast iron models, SVA, and SVDA models.

This is a 111905205N which is very close to the SVA you're working on. It was kinda hard to get a picture, but if you look inside the shaft hole, you'll see a black band in the picture. That's actually a recessed area. You cut the felt to fit in there. Oil it and install the shaft.

Many people leave the old, cruddy, falling apart felt in there and it will be full of grit. Even worse, I've seen someone glass bead the body of a distributor, and not take out the old felt. It HAD to be absolutely full of glass.

[wcfvw69]

[Pruneman99]

[moundtop]

Thanks to the details in this thread and parts from VWNOS I was able to successfully rebuild my 205T. I did encounter two difficulties. It took me a while to install the shaft without getting it caught on the new felt pad between the bushings. But the BIG problem was removing and reinstalling the pin that secures the drive dog at the end of the shaft.

Does anyone know a source of replacements for this drive pin? Would it be ill advised to replace it with a "roll pin" of similar size?

[Glenn]

[tasb]

The early cast iron distributors had no bushings, thus no felt pad either. Not sure I would consider the felt pad critical but the Bosch engineers felt they were needed for 14 years for a reason. I'm more positive than Bill. Rather than "killing bearings" I believe the pads retain oil, (and some minute dirt particles suspended in the engine oil) that lubricates the bearings. In the same 20 years I've only encountered a handful of distributors with excessive lateral play= worn bearings. I can't think of a drive dog pin that I couldn't remove, after twenty years of restoring distributors. A big enough hammer and some patients has always succeeded. I have at least 100 spare pins, PM me and you can have a couple for the price of postage. Every Bosch distributor has the same size drive pin from at least 1938 until-?
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[Glenn]

[heimlich]

[Jimbug57]

I use this 1/8" punch with a BFH to remove the drive dog pin.

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[wcfvw69]

If those fiber felts were needed and critical Bosch would not have discontinued using them in their distributors. Having restored well over 1000 1974 and later distributors that don't use the felts, it's extremely rare to find measurable wear on the bushings or on the shafts of the distributor. And, I measure the bushings and shafts with snap gauges and micrometers. I don't go by feel. I have changed maybe four worn shaft bushings in 1974 and later distributors due to measurable wear due to extreme high miles or a clogged oil inlet to the distributor. One was a rarer distributor that required me to machine the mainshaft on my lathe and then make custom bushings due to the shaft being undersized after the machining. I've also had to bore out a few cast distributor bodies on my lathe that did not originally come with bushings due to excess wear in the cast body bores. I then made custom bushings with tight tolerance bronze rod.
I recently restored a German Bosch 009 distributor that the owner said had at least 200k miles on it. The German 009's also did not come with those fiber pads either. The shaft mic'd out perfect as did both the upper and lower bushings. The shaft looked brand new. It only required a polish.
People should do what they are comfortable with. Myself? I'll continue to remove those filthy, quickly contaminated bearing killers.
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[Jimbug57]

I just disassembled my spare 113 905 205 M. The felt pad was hardened gunk - hard to remove. I made a new pin to hold the cap clamp on, but I can't get the ends of the broken one out. It still works though.

The hard part for me on these is getting a new ground strap made and installed. I'm going to try a torch on the breaker plate because my soldering iron doesn't get hot enough. I could use some help on the correct way to be doing this.

I can see Bill's point on the pad, however, I have a new felt from VWNOS. Not sure what to do there. I can't imagine Bill would steer you wrong. I don't need to decide right now. I will be installing a Compu-Fire module in this one. I'm running another 205 M with points and condenser in my single port currently.

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[Chickensoup]

question... I completely rebuilt my late 40hp dizzy about a year or so ago.

I replaced the main bushing with one sold from VWNOS. The bushing was way to tight, and didnt fit at all once in the bore of the distributor body. So i ended up polishing the shaft which helped some, however when i turn the rotor it still feels too tight.

I believe the material is a bronze of some sort. Should i run it and see how it feels after break in? Or take everything back apart, remove the bushing, and make my own?

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[wcfvw69]

[heimlich]

[sb001]

When those fiber washers disintegrate:


Link

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Bosch 113905205AE autostick distributor

[Glenn]

Yes, if they were meant to last forever, Bosch would not of made replacements.
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[Pruneman99]

Looks like I opened a can of worms with the felt discussion. There seems to be some disagreement if it should be replaced or left out. I can see pro/con of each method so I guess it's going to be up to the restorer to decide.

The more important thing I was trying to point out is to not leave the old one in there like I've seen people do because they were unaware of it. I think wether or not you replace it, everyone can agree the old one needs to be fished out and cleaned well.

[Glenn]

Not needed.

I've re-rebuilt a few that i've removed it from for customers that were building new engines and wanted it to look "fresh" all have plenty of oil and not wear.

It's just a wick to keep the shaft, between the bushings, moist. Mercedes and Volvo had a oil port added to the boss on the cast iron models, but VW/Porsche/BMW/SAAB did not.

After 20+ year and thousands done, i've not had a single reported problem.
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"You may not get what you pay for, but you always pay for what you get"

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[sb001]

[Glenn]