I bought a replacement distributor at the Slough Swapmeet. Just an ordinary points based dissy. Swapped a spring clip with the old dissy because despite opening the box to check it was an SVDA I missed the broken clip. About 2000 miles on I popped the cap to line up the engine for a check on me swivel feet. And noticed a groove in the top of the rotor arm and a lot more black dust than I would like. Closer inspection shows that the spring loaded carbon slider pin in the centre of the the cap was wobbly because somebody had shaved fractions of a penny off the cost of the carbon pin and fitted a narrower pin than the size of the hole it runs in. So it was leaning over and gouging a circular groove in the rotor arm. Not helped by the brass bit in the middle of the rotor arm being angled well off horizontal. The dust was down to there not being much carbon pin left. Also the carbon was grittier than the Bosch cap which I had. So I pulled out the Bosch cap from my spares and replaced the cap. Eventually I will have replaced every part on the new dissy apart from the horribly worn drive dog with bits from the old Bosch...
It's threads like this that make me think of going for the all electric ignition, do these work out cheaper in the end and easier to service?
So I stuck the Bosch cap on and then the Chinese rotor arm rose up (knocked or vibrated ? ) and started grinding into the top of the dissy. But the engine still ran. So the Bosch rotor arm is back now as well as the cap, which survived after a clean up. Only another 70% to go back to Bosch.
It pees me off when this happens! What they do is try to make a generic part that covers 90% of models which is ok from a financial point but us poor users suffer! You cant even trust the brands anymore. I had Bosch spark plugs made in India, Russia and Brazil- guess which ones survived the best, yup Brazil! I have not seen German made Bosch plugs for years! I really try to avoid Chinese parts as best I can and never tough Empi with a barge pole! Glad you are back on the road.
Strangely, I only noticed a slight hesitation or shudder once or twice with the rotor arm ridden up. I think it still pointed mostly the right way. I too am fed up with Chinese stuff. Too many times I look at a piece of rusty crud I have pulled off the bus and realise there is still more metal left in it than arrives from China as new. Trouble is nobody knows what is good and what is bad quality these days. Perhaps repro body panels should all be advertised with mm thickness , and somewhere we should collect a set of the corresponding OG panel thicknesses.
The Chinese (?) Distributors do work provided a few pre-installation checks are made. Rotate the drive to ensure the rotor does not contact the cap. Remove the central fixing screw under the felt pad and check the washer does not cover the lubrication hole. ...at this point its a good idea to squirt a little light oil down it and rotate to ensure lubrication before use. Finally, if it all appears to be mechanically sound, check the rotor/driving dog position...it could be 180 degrees out. If it is just take care removing the retaining spring as its of a thinner gauge than the original Bosch and liable to bend easily...spring being a description of its shape rather than its tensile strength. There maybe a few other defect points but I've not found them as yet. Ooops nearly forgot..the moving plate for the points might be in need of lubrication in way of its retainers.
You know I have my 2 old 1200cc Beetle engine covered in dust and cobwebs that I keep dragging with me everytime I move house and was going to sell them but decided to keep them for spare for the van (yes I know the 1600cc engine is different) but dizzy's and assorted other stuff is worth holding onto - because there will become a time when this 'make stuff to a cost' will backfire and eventually Bay vans will start to vanish off the roads and end up yet again a very rich mans hobby !
Still kept my original Bosch unit as a standby in case the brand X version gives up the ghost. Same with the carb...I currently run an Empi version which after having the idle jet increased and realigned operates very well. That and reshaping the stepped choke cam to something like the original Solex profile. Think half these products should carry a warning that further work will be required before being attached to an engine.
Indeed! Its just cheap casting with lesser qualified workers doing it, paid buttons for long hours often in dangerous conditions - do they care no! They will never meet you or me? In these countries they are lucky to get jobs so of course they will do whatever. Having said that , just because it says Made in Germany or Made in UK does not automatically imply it is good ! All we can do is look at our original parts (keep them clean them and try to bring them back to life) worst case we have to use the repro because we have no other choice.
