Oops I took out the vacuum advance

[beetleman217]

A fellow at the local meeting pointed out that my vacuum advance unit wasn't connected to the carburator, and that its nipple is broken. When I got home I thought why don't I take it off and inspect it/find out the part number to order a new one. It was simple to remove - just two small screws. So I took it off - had to yank it a bit out of the distibutor. Then I understood what an "oh shi" moment is, as the famous Samba thread is named.

Honestly, I don't know what this part does. To push it back in, I'll have to open the distributor cap. Will that mess up the distributor alignment?

Is the car drivable without the vacuum advance? Or will I cause damage to the engine?

I know, I reek of newbieness, please be gentle.
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If all else fails, stop using all else

1977 Westfalia
1961 Beetle

[thomas.]

There's a saying I made up that's been quoted again and again " a picture is worth a thousand words".

[66 Bugman]

Yeah, a picture will be helpful.

Also, no, it will not disrupt the timing at all to take off the cap. If you take the dist. out of the engine and move the distributor clamp around, then it will change the timing.

Take the cap off and look inside to see whats going on.

Also, a picture would be very helpful to see for anyone to help...

colin
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[Scott Gray]

You will have to take the cap off.If you have pulled off the vac can without taking the cap off,you very well could have messed something up.The arm that comes out of the can connects to a pin and under a spring on the advance plate.Like so.

[beetleman217]

Here are pics of my vacuum advance. The only number is on the shaft and reads "461".

_________________
If all else fails, stop using all else

1977 Westfalia
1961 Beetle

[thomas.]

You're probably going to need another distributor.The guy at the meeting was right about the vacuum hook up . Looks like the tube where you hook up the rubber vacuum line is broke or just not there. Even if you could rig something up , the function may be questionable .Then there's the inside of your distributor.Do you have a picture of that ?Would be easier to get a new one. Or what I would do is get a good used one. Just my 2 cents.

[Culito]

http://www.aircooled.net/new-bin/viewproductdetail.php?keyword2=IGD0007&cartid=
This may work.
Post up some numbers from the carb body.
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'64 standard w/2.0L type 4
'62 bug

[Luft kühl]

[beetleman217]

Thank you all for the great advice. I decided to follow Luft kühl's advice and repair the nipple with a brass tube. I made the hole just a tad smaller so the brass tube fit strong. I then put some super glue where the meet.

I was able to put it back in the distributor and hooked up the hose. The car started fine and all seems ok. I will still look for a replacement because god only knows if what I have now is working at all.

Attached are pics. Note that the vacuum arm just sits on the pin - there was no circlip or anything to fasten it like the Haynes manual says. I guess it's missing? Let's hope the arm doesn't fly off the pin.

_________________
If all else fails, stop using all else

1977 Westfalia
1961 Beetle

[Scott Gray]

There should be a spring to hold the arm down.Look at the pic i posted up top.

[Luft kühl]

Your model distributor does not use a spring to hold the arm in place, it has the small clip just as your manual says. Since you removed it with the cap on, the clip is probably laying in the bottom of your distributor somewhere.

To test the canister to see if it works:

Remove the distributor cap.
Remove the vacuum line from the carburetor.

If you suck on the tube the breaker plate should move (advance).
The breaker plate should not return to its original position until suction is removed and air is allowed to enter the tube.

If your car does not have one, you will also need a "shepards crook" or a loop in the vacuum line to prevent fuel from entering the canister and ruining it.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=246442&highlight=shepards+crook

[glutamodo]

Yeah, none of the SVDA style distributors had a return spring to hold the vacuum canister. That was only on the 1970/older vacuum-only distributors. SVDAs have their return spring inside the vacuum can.

This is about how it should look with the clip (German 034 example)

Glad I looked at this thread again... Interesting on that 461 vacuum canister with the 043905205K distributor. I've got a big chart of various stock distributors and their vacuum canisters, but I left that distributor off because I have never come across the part number of the vacuum canister for the 043-K before. What the 461 means is that those are the last 3 digits of the Bosch part number... but that doesn't tell me what the rest of it then number was. Assuming it's the correct original vacuum canister, it's got to be 1 237 12__ 461, with the blank being the number I don't know. It doesn't tell me if Bosch ever issued a warehousing "short number" for it either. But still more than I knew!

-Andy

[Scott Gray]

My bad. I thought the 205k had a spring.

[Culito]

[glutamodo]

[tasb]

For as many times as I've said it I should ad it as a sticky to all my posts:

When discussing distributors it is imperative that the full part number be used. There were over 100 different distributors used by VW throughout air cooled production.
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1957 Kombi low mileage 36 hp governor equipped M 178 Slow Drag Winner 2014, 2015, 2018

1965 hardtop Deluxe Microbus owned since 1990 M 620 factory 12 v 1500cc

1961 (October)Single Cab- Road Trip Workhorse

[Merlin]

I find it quite absurd that for a car that was pretty much everywhere a few decades ago, we cannot find suitable vacuum canisters.

Everyone bitches about 009s, but I can see why they get used so often.

I've been battling to find a useable vacuum canister for months now.

Does nobody make the right ones anymore?
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[Culito]

[garagebandking41]

I need to rebuild my 113 905 205k, how do you know what vacuum advance unit is compatible? your link seems to imply this is for 71 models and up. What's a '67 beetle to do?

[glutamodo]

You mean the 113905205K/0231137009 (different 009 than the centrifugal)?

113905205K was the vacuum-only 1966-67 distributor used with a 30PICT-1 distributor.

The vacuum canister for the 113-K is the 1237121210 (07 017) which was used on a few different distributors. They do show up on the Classifieds and on eBay from time to time. Like this one:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=784914

These were the distributors that that canister was the same on:

( Now, the SVDA 043905205K pictured in this thread above, that was a Mid 70s/up distributor used on a few non-USA models, which is why I don't have a whole lot of of information about it. I do not know if the vacuum advance canister from the common 043905205/0231170034 fits into it. As I mentioned above, it looks to have a 10 digit part number that ends in 461. The 034's vacuum canister's long number ends in 579. )