MS Gulf Coast VW Club Forums

[caromin]

While I was at the Bugapaloosa in Chattanooga last weekend I ran across a guy selling used VW parts, the guy had boxes and boxes with stuff just thrown in. You're thinking, a VW fanatic's dream right. Well it was. As I was poking around, my keen VW savvy eye spied 5 centrifugal distributors just laying out. Looking closer at them they were Bosch 010s and the 019 blue screamers. For those of you who don’t know, both of those distributors are considered the ultimate Old School performance distributors. They sell routinely on TheSamba for over $100. I found out they were being held for a guy who had picked them out of the pile. Dejected, I moped around for awhile and decided to dig into the pile. I found this beauty for a whopping $5.00



I figured what the heck, give it a shot. I disassembled the unit and discovered the internals were in pretty good shape. The body looked like crap but that’s easily fixed. These distributors come apart by driving out the roll pin in the bottom with a drift and removing a few screws.



Here’s a shot of the internals after cleaned up and oiling. Notice the two small springs, unlike the 009 that only has one, the 010 uses 2 weights that are connected to points cam with springs. This setup typically gives a total of 20 degrees advance all in @ 2500. The 009 (as designed) gives about 17 degrees advance all in at 2650K. Problem is: South American 009s almost never perform as intended, they suffer from erratic timing flutter and varying degrees of advance. The dual spring setup in an 010 usally results in a more stable timing which equates to a crisper running engine. This distributor uses the two piece points design, while this is harder to install, this design uses a very strong spring setup. Strong spring=No points float, these distributors are typically good up to 7500 RPMS. I intend to use this with a CDI unit that runs a very low current through the points so point life isn't an issue. 15 to 20K miles isn't unusual for points in a CDI system.

The trick to restoring this part is to ensure the mechanism works smoothly and advances freely. Also the points cam is usually rusted on old distributors which would result in your points rubbing block wearing down in 50~100 miles. I use a buffing wheel on a bench grinder to smoothen out the cam, the smoother the better.



I stripped down the cast iron body with a wire wheel. Be careful around the badge, it should remain visible and readable if possible. A coat of high heat gloss black made it look like new again.



Ensure the inside is cleaned out well and there isn't any rust. I reassembled the unit with the shims properly installed and checked the advance, it's worked smoothly. What's nice about these old Bosch distributors is they are constructed of iron and steel, two metals that don't wear much.

I hit all the screws with a wire wheel on a dremel to knock any rust off. The clip were rusted pretty badly and I didn't have a replacment for the missing one so I used a set off an old 009 I had cannibalized. They aren't exactly the same but work as intended.



I'm waiting on the tune up kit from Blimp VW parts, they 010 parts are getting harder to find but they are out there, you just have to look.



Here it is on the engine. Not a bad looking addition that performs too. Keep an eye out for these units and pick them up if you can find one cheap, it's worth the work to restore one.
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1904cc Sandrail

[Ranger126]

That engine looking better on every new picture. You will have to post a wav file once it's running so we can hear what it sounds like.

[henryyapjr]

another good job Chris!

[caromin]

Thanks Guys,
It's together and the Tin is off getting powdercoated. I was going to swap around the first of Jun but we have the Herbie Cruise coming up so I'll wait till after.
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1904cc Sandrail