Date: Thu, 6 Apr 2006 15:26:34 -0700
Reply-To: Old Volks Home <oldvolkshome@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Old Volks Home <oldvolkshome@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: [T2] Distributor for electronic ignition
In-Reply-To: <5fbed5aa0604061228y9160a5fxd3b495d887fc1094@mail.gmail.com>
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Mike -
It would probably easier to answer this question if I knew if your Vanagon
was:
1. Air Cooled or Water Cooled? This changed in mid year 1983.
2. If Air Cooled, Federal or California Model? Air Cooled Federal Models
came with Points, California models w/Factory Hall Electronic Ignition.
Water Cooled all came w/Factory Hall Electronic Ignition.
It boils down to this. If you have an Air Cooled Federal Vanagon, the
answer is probably. But remember, the SVDA (Bosch 0231 170 034) currently
sold is designed for use in Upright 1600 engines, it's advance curves are
close enough, but not exactly the same as the original distributor (Bosch
0231 170 093). In addition the Cylinder #1 Mark on the distributor case
edging is 180 degrees opposite of the original distributor, so your true #1
mark is 180 degrees off - you have to file a new mark to reference this.
And yes, this distributor will accept the aftermarket Pertronix or
Compu-Fire Electronic Igntion Systems.
If you have a Air Cooled California 83 or a Water Cooled 83.5, then your
distributor should already be Hall Electronic Ignition. The SVDA will not
work in it's place because of how the Ignition System is used to provide the
Tachometer signal to the Fuel Injection ECU (Brain). You must use an
original distributor and it's components for this set up. That's not to say
that with a bit of electronics knowledge and savvy that it could probably be
modified to be used with the points style distributor, but to me it's more
work than it's worth.
Final note - if you do have the Factory Electronic Ignition, I don't believe
the mounting plate(s) on these distributors accept either the Petronix or
Compu-Fire as a drop-in replacement. However, I believe the Crane Ignition
System offers such a beast (at least they did years ago when it was known
Allison before they were bought out by Crane Cams). But the Crane System
costs about as much as the factory replacement Hall Unit Kit for these
distributors.
See my webpages for further distributor info:
http://www.oldvolkshome.com/ignition.htm#V8083CA
http://www.oldvolkshome.com/ignition.htm#V8083FD
http://www.oldvolkshome.com/ignition.htm#V8384
--
Jim Thompson
84 Westfalia 2.1 "Ole Putt"
73 K Ghia Coupe "Denise"
72 411 Station Wagon "Pug"
oldvolkshome@gmail.com
http://www.oldvolkshome.com
**********************************
On 4/6/06, Mike Jeffrey <oldbus@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hello!
> I know very little about this... are there different distributors for
> electronic ignition and for points?
> Specifically, will the SVDA distributor at CB Performance (
> http://www.cbperformance.com/catalog.asp?ProductID=1348) work with a 1983
> Vanagon?
> Bus Depot lists the same distributor for a range of buses ranging from
> 1950
> to 1983... but the shop my bus is at tells me that the distributor I
> bought
> is for points, not electronic ignition.
> Would somebody mind educating me a bit?
> Thanks!
> Mike.
>
