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On 25 Apr 2005 at 7:54, Schlegel, Richard wrote: > From: Russ Wolfe [mailto:russw@classicvw.org] > >>> You will have more trouble than that with a pertronix. > > I love the pertronix! Put it in, set it, and your done. My car starts on > the first crank even after sitting for a few months! Starting on the first crank has almost nothing to do with the ignition. Both types of ignitions will do this if the fuel is there. > >>> The points in my '71 FB were installed sometime back in the 1980's, > and have never been readjusted. > > Hmmmmmmmmmm... Wow! I've never heard of a set of points NEVER needing > adjustment or replacing in 25 years? Do you drive it much? In my > previous VW's (1965 bug and 1964 Bus) or any other old car I owned with > points always needed some adjustment, even with lube on them. Thousands > of automotive engineers can't be wrong can they? :-) I think Russ's '71 sat for many years, so his example really isn't fair. OTOH, we hear of many Pertronix failures within 3 years, which is much less than my points last. The automotive engineers aren't wrong, but we should not assume that the Pertronix is designed and built to the same standards as a product that Ford or GM will have to stand behind for 100,000 miles. That's an entirely different animal. How long have you had yours and how many miles do you have on it? > >>> NO, it will make it worse. If you want an 009, I will give you one > for the postage. If you want a better dist. >>> get one from a later FI > engine. You won't even need the vacuum advance. Just make sure the > mechanical advance >>> works. > > This must be an east coast thing? Almost every non-stock vw out here has > an .009 distributor on it. If they were that bad I would think everyone > would be running stock ones wouldn't you? There was a time when the 009 was considered the dist of choice. That time was when the stock dist was a vac adv dist. A mech adv dist was needed when people started putting different carbs on their VWs, because once you do this your OE vac adv dist won't work correctly any more. Around 1970 VW started supplying dists that had mech adv (for proper operation & power) plus vac adv (for enhanced advance at low load to give fuel economy.) These distributors are actually pretty good choices, but you really have to look at the specific advance curves to see which ones are better. It just happens that the early FI type 3 dists have very good advance curves, good for ANY aircooled VW engine. There is also the thought that recent production of the 009 dists in Brazil is not of the same quality as the originals, but I really don't know if there's any truth in that. As far as I can tell, however, the only thing keeping the 009 alive is the herd mentality that keeps people following what everyone else is doing. This mentality continues to be stroked by those who stand to profit from sales of the 009s. Frankly, my first choice in ignitions are the old CDI units made by Delta. They use the stock points & coil and have a switch that allows them to be switched back to normal. I've been using them since 1966 and have had excellent operation out of them. My points last for many years with this system, and the only way they fail is if the little wire breaks inside its insulation. -- Jim Adney jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711-3054 USA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~