Alternative Distributors to the Bosch 009

....good is this:

..best is this:

...its price, of course, reflects the fact.

I would reccomend still, as of your previous thread getting a set of kadrons, and a vacuum advance distributor. I would reccommend getting both from AJ at low bugget, as he will tap the carb for use with the disttributor, and set you up with the correct jets all for a package price far cheaper than trying to piece things together. In general John @ aircooled . net is "the man" to order quality parts from. I believe, and I'm sure he will correct me if I'm wrong, that these are his recurved distributors AJ is selling...but since he does not stock kadrons, nor do the mods for the vacuum AJ is the man to go to in this case. I'm sure others will chime in with their reccomendations as well. =-)

..Gareth

According to a local VW mechanic I talked to, a lot of folks are pulling the

009s off their rigs and rebuilding stock units with vacuum advance to install. He said there were a couple of reasons for this. First, the quality of the 009s you can get these days doesn't match what they once were. Second, centrifugal advance is great...if you're running throttle wide open all the time, and for a street rig, who really does that? The 009s were originally designed to be racing distributors, but that doesn't mean that they give better performance under any but racing conditions. I've found tech articles on the web that said basically the same thing.

None of this is first-hand experience; only what I've been told.

Cheers, Walt

Help me out. I'm stupid. Quote from aircoole.net's Mallory page:

(springs)

"$15.00 We have acquired the grey springs separately! The grey / grey spring combo is the one that works best on moderate and more agressive engines! Buy getting these, you save $15, but ONLY get the 2 grey springs to dial in your curve (you also do not get the "advance indexing tool" (Piece of plastic), you can do this on your own. If you want the whole kit, buy the spring kit."

Does he mean "By NOT getting these, you save $15," ? And when it says "If you want the whole kit, buy the spring kit", he means this part, right? It's implied that we get the springs and the 'advance indexing tool' with these springs. Correct?

I thought they were originally developed for the ACVW utility engine (to drive pumps, generators, etc.)

I think he means by getting the grey springs separately you save $15 that you'd spend if you got the whole kit. Notice how he spelled "by" as "buy." Subliminal suggestion. BUY it... ;-)

I think he means if you buy the spring kit then you spend a little more and you also get the nifty piece of plastic that you don't need in the first place. I could be wrong, but... Oh. Wait. What am I saying? :-)

"I can hammer it back into shape later." :wq!

I'd never heard that, but it makes sense. An engine that was always run under a constant and predictable load would hardly need a vacuum advance. The way I heard it, the 009 types were put on the Porche race cars, where they were running flat-out, and driver pretty much kept the throttle pedal on the floorboard for the entire race. Again, a vacuum advance setup would have little effect under those conditions.

Walt

Okay. I get it. Here's the spring kit.

I'd kinda put that in the options for the dizzy as well. Now I know what to buy... without pestering JC.

Just as soon as my tax return comes in. Wait. I don't get returns.

-- js - "I tried self-employment but got a bad reference."

On Fri, 23 Apr 2004 23:14:13 -0600, "John Connolly" scribbled this interesting note:

John,

Remember the discussion that occurred here some time ago? The results were summarized here:

Ever since then it has pretty much been accepted as a given, based on empirical results, that the SVDA is superior for any kind of daily driving.

Anyone who says otherwise is welcome to enjoy their driving experience. Of course this includes Jan, but he has a clue about what he is doing, unlike most all the rest of those who use a 009.

-- John Willis (Remove the Primes before e-mailing me)

I basically hate a 009 as well, I'm glad they quit making them!

(un?)fortunately, my vw mechanic retired last year so i'm having to learn a lot more, and some of it has been coming the hard way ... and with a

7-month-old i'm finding less time but needing to learn more.

then svda is definitely the next modification i need to make - and will order parts as soon as i'm sure about exactly what i need.

i don't think this is something i need to worry about, but will describe what i (think) i have and hope someone will steer me in the right direction:

i currently have two beetles and a puma; one 78 vert which attends shows/parades regularly, one 67 standard daily driver and the puma is a drive-around-having-fun car; as far as i can tell, all three have 1600dp engines with 009 distributors (no vacuum tubing anywhere in sight). one is easy - it has a 34pict-3 (says bocar?) - but the other two are harder to tell. i believe they are weber progressive (single) carbs, but the closest thing to a brand i can find stamped on them is "made in spain" ... since i don't believe any of these are kadrons, i'm assuming i don't have to worry about the throttle body; but because the vacuum lines are not present i have no idea where to put them.

so looking at aircooled.net, here's what i think i need (please correct me if i'm wrong!):

IGD0001 - ACN SVDA Distributor (2 for progressive, one for 34pict) IGD0005 - Distributor O-ring (3)

along with (for ease of maint.): IGN0001 - Compufire Points Replacement Kit (3)

which in turn requires (just to be sure): IGC0001 - Bosch Ignition Coil (3)

and considering i currently have no vacuum hose, would i also require the following: THH0002 - Vacuum Hose, 3.5mm (3)

while i realize these questions have specific part numbers for a specific vendor, i'm posting in the ng hoping to receive feedback from the other outstanding (outspoken) ramva members who may (and probably will) see an error in my judgement. given the list above and three engines to convert, the price approaches $1k so i'd rather be told i'm about to do something stupid than to realize or be told i have already done some thing stupid.

john's never steered me wrong before, but he certainly can't prevent me from doing something stupid on my own!

comments? thx!

....you may want to get 5 compufires ionstead of three.... sell two on e-bay or keep for spares.

...Gareth

saw that and definitely plan to, thanks for the pointer. how about the rest? look ok?

Jan

Have you *really* spent some time with them, tweaking them to better suit your needs?

I must admit, they can never match the SVDA, but when it comes to driveability, it can be made to work pretty well. It takes some time of course. Flat spots? Laziness or lack of knowledge ;)

Jan

I've had good luck with the 009 over the years. I found if I set the accelerator pump to the max and play with the timing as Jan suggested, I don't have the flat spots on take off. Simple and easy to use for me. Just my opinion of course and I know Jake and John and probibly most of you know more than I do with the VW's but I have them on my Super, Westy and Puma without any problems.

href="

">Den's 1978Puma

This is one of the reasons the SVDA gives better mileage :)

Jan

Wow, and all these years I thought I got such great mileage because of the design....Must be my superior driving skills.

href="

">Den's 1978Puma

On Sun, 25 Apr 2004 13:07:55 -0400, "ilambert" ran around screaming and yelling:

from a quality standpoint it *IS* a piece of junk....buy about ten of them and compare...you will see.... JT(who runs an old *german* made 009)

I disagree. The engine will "run", but will not run WELL. You have every right to have your opinion, just as I have a right to disagree with yours.

Put a timing light on a 009 (with or without a pertronix/compufire) and then put a light on an engine with a Mallory. The "normal spark scatter" that is present, that I used to think was just my timing light, IS NOT THE LIGHT. The 009 does "work", but a real race car should be ashamed to have those POS on there, when you can gain a LOT more power with a good distributor (Mallory). If you don't intend on turning over 6k, the SVDA is the way to go.

Perhaps looking at the situation from a different perspective would be useful. How many people here would install a device that I promised them

1) lowered their MPG by 3-4mpg 2) caused their engine temps to go up 15F on the oil, and 50F on the heads 3) gave their car an annoying hesitation?

all for the bargain price of $50 LOL.

The response to this would be vastly different then promising the opposite of this if you put an SVDA on there. The 009 is not a race distributor. The only thing it's good for is engines that do not have the proper vacuum port for SVDA or Unilite w/Vac operation. There are those that think they are decent, but please don't kid yourself into thinking the 009 is a "good" distributor, it IS a POS. It does provide spark, and is cheap, it is not good, not even close.

John Aircooled.Net Inc.