Electronic Ignition Conversion (pictures restored)

[Volktales]

Been meaning to do this for eons.... finally did the conversion today. The bus is a '74 with a later fuel injected 2 Litre type 4 motor. The ignition is the commonly available Pertronix system purchased online but can be ordered from most auto part stores. Why electronic ignition? The manufactures state better starting, performance, and fuel economy, but the reality is you will see no difference if your engine was running properly before. The real reason is to have a system with no wearing parts that will always stay in tune once initially set up. It is amusing that VW was pretty much the first company to mass market an electronic fuel injection system that was advanced for the day but chose to use the archaic points system for the ignition. And then they kept it right to the end of air-cooled production by which time nobody else still used points and condenser (except Hyundai!!!) As probably the most common cause of broken down buses you see on the side of the highway; getting rid of the points is a GOOD thing. On to the conversion...



Note the wire connections before you start. You only need to remove the green wire which connects to the points in the distributor. This is connected to the "-" terminal on the coil (also marked as "1" on Bosch coils). The other wires to the negative terminal of the coil in this picture are the white (faded to tan) wire which goes to the computer to trigger the injectors, and the tan/green stripey wire which is the signal for the tachometer.



Loosen the clamp on the distributor and remove it. Here you can see the original soon to be removed points and condenser assembly. Before removal of distributor from engine, make note of how the distributor body was positioned to make timing it again easier.



Here are the old points and condenser removed, along with the contents of the kit to replace them.



First install this mounting for the electronic pick-up assembly. Just one screw so easy so far...



Next feed the wires and main grommet through the hole in the side of the distributor body. You do not have to cut the wires to do this, look carefully at the picture.



Next install the module assembly with the supplied nuts. A 7mm socket kind of fit.
I popped the black magnetic ring over the end of the distributor shaft and adjusted the gap using the supplied plastic gauge. This was later revealed to be premature...



Next the grommet was slid back up the wires and into position. The wires can be tweaked slightly to avoid rubbing on anything inside the distributor.



His is the finished installation of the grommet with the original condensor bracket holding it in place.



This picture tells and important tale... When I initially installed the magnetic ring, it turns out it wasn't seated down far enough on the shaft. This showed up when attempting to reinstall the rotor. I had to spend more time then I wanted to carefully remove material from inside the plastic ring until it would finally seat properly on the shaft. If you try to force these rings on they WILL break. Don't ask me how I know that.... Once installed correctly another issue was revealed... The electronic pickup assembly must line up with the magnetic ring. Included in the kit was a spacer that went under the pickup and I at first installed this as per picture in the instructions. Once the magnetic ring was seated however, things no longer lined up and I had to remove the spacer. It says this is OK in the text of the instructions. The moral? Read the F-ing instructions.



Here is something you won'f find in the instructions.. As the magnetic ring sits on the shaft, it causes the ignition rotor to sit slightly higher on the shaft. Depending on your rotor and/or distributor cap, this may cause rubbing on the underside of the cap. If the cap doesn't seem to seat properly on the distributor, then file the bottom of the rotor slightly as I did.



Also note that VW used different rotors for points and electronic systems. The narrow contact of the rotor is for points applications, the wider for electronic. My bus already had the wider rotor in it for years (Ooops)



Reinstalled and connected up. The red wire goes to the "+" (15) terminal on the coil, the black goes to the "-" (1) terminal on the coil. DON'T get this mixed up! So after the install, the engine was started without drama and the timing set with a proper timing light. A good test drive followed and here is the verdict. Starting, power, and smoothness were exactly as it was before. But then it was fine before anyway, so now I just won't have to lose sleep at night wondering when the point gap will close up and leave me stranded. I still will keep the parts as backup just in case, but the electronic modules seldom fail....

[PICTUP]

I had forgotten about the wider rotor contact. When I was doing mine and you were watching with amusement, did we even check that? I don't remember doing so. How would that affect the timing, if it was the "wrong" one?

Why would there have been two types when I thought all Buses of this time period were point systems?

[65bugger]

I put one of these on my car late spring/ early summer. It worked like a charm (still does). Mine went in without any modifications of parts. Lucky, I guess.

[65bugger]

had to replace my electronic points with my old points and condenser when I replaced the clutch disk. Not sure why replacing the clutch would cause this part to fail? It all seemed to line up this way.

[Volktales]

You didn't hook up the coil backwards, did you? This will fry your electronic points immediately!

[65bugger]

I must have done this; otherwise it makes no sense, does it.

[CrazyBrit]

I have run one of these for years in my Ghia. Still going strong (fingers crossed!). I replaced the points and condenser after a breakdown on the motorway on the way to Stanford Hall (Which we (Dad!) fixed by fettling the points). I have never looked back.

The bus one has given me a little grief though. I took the distributor off my old 1600cc last year and installed it on the 1914cc. It ran nicely. I took it to Fountain Tire for a wheel alignment and the shop tech' took it out for a test drive. It broke down on Mostar just outside of "The Finishing Store". A Mid Island Towing truck happened to be passing and offered me a tow. When I said "no thanks, I would like to try and fix it first", he and the chap from Fountain Tire helped me push the bus backwards down to the car park outside of City Tile. How's that for customer service? Then the team from City Tile provided Dad and myself with cold drinks whilst we worked on it in their car park! (NOte that I probably would have had the bus towed, had he been able to tow it without the extra expense of the rear wheel dollies - it was too low to tow with the back wheels on the ground!)

Anyway, back to the ignition. It turned out that the rotor arm had popped off the distributor drive shaft. So, I put it back on, drove the bus 10 feet and it popped off again. It turned out that the collar was sitting too high on the distributor shaft. Eventually, I put a long socket over the top of the magnetic ring, tapped it gently (ish!) with a hammer and pushed the ring properly onto the shaft. This allowed the rotor arm to fit properly onto the shaft and it seems to be running well now or at least it was when the bus came off the road last year...

[CrazyBrit]

I forgot to mention, that it had driven an easy 1000 miles with the collar in that position. Strange it chose to jump off as soon as a stranger drove my bus! Who says they are just cars?

[Brenticon]

Finally ..... I broke down and bought a set. Installed in my spare and will swap out distributors tomorrow.
Let's hope I don't cross wires, lol

[Brenticon]

Grrrrrrrr, can't get center ring to sit

ps: second time installing

[Brenticon]

Thanks again Russ!

[Wongai]

Thanks for the post. Been thinking about this conversion. When I bought my 74 bus, the PO said it had electronic ignition. I checked just for fun and found that it did not. I later found recently purchased electronic ignition parts in the cabinet. I'm not sure having the parts on-board counts.

I'm not sure what I will use my ashtrays for if not for a new points storage bin.

Thanks again for making this helpful post.

B

[Volktales]

All pictures restored.  Still liking my Pertronix way more than the original points...