Home  |  Forums  |  914 Info  |  Blogs
 
914World.com - The fastest growing online 914 community!
 
Porsche, and the Porsche crest are registered trademarks of Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG. This site is not affiliated with Porsche in any way.
Its only purpose is to provide an online forum for car enthusiasts. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
 

Welcome Guest ( Log In | Register )

> Marelli Distributor Rebuild Experience
DennisV
post Aug 21 2022, 06:10 PM
Post #1


Member
**

Group: Members
Posts: 486
Joined: 8-August 20
From: Santa Rosa, CA
Member No.: 24,575
Region Association: Northern California
Who has tackled rebuilding their own Marelli distributor, and to what level of success?

I can find a few core candidates on eBay and the classifieds. What makes a good core?

There are rebuild kits and parts now. I've found a couple videos and tutorials. The mechanical seems reasonable. I have access to a media blaster for cleanup.

What I don't have is a Sun machine or way to check the centrifugal advance when I'm done. What are the other pitfalls that make sending one out for restoration a $500+ job? What is the worst case outcome if it's messed up and put on an engine? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smash.gif)

Thank you.
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
 
 Reply to this topicStart new topic
Replies(1 - 9)
914Sixer
post Aug 21 2022, 06:34 PM
Post #2


914 Guru
*****

Group: Members
Posts: 8,902
Joined: 17-January 05
From: San Angelo Texas
Member No.: 3,457
Region Association: Southwest Region
Unless your dead set on using the Marelli, find a 911T Bosch replacement.

SparxWerks.com in Arizona can set your specs on old school Sun machine, may even be able to do the Marelli.
User is online!Profile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
DennisV
post Aug 21 2022, 09:03 PM
Post #3


Member
**

Group: Members
Posts: 486
Joined: 8-August 20
From: Santa Rosa, CA
Member No.: 24,575
Region Association: Northern California
QUOTE(914Sixer @ Aug 21 2022, 05:34 PM) *

Unless your dead set on using the Marelli, find a 911T Bosch replacement.

SparxWerks.com in Arizona can set your specs on old school Sun machine, may even be able to do the Marelli.

Thanks for the SparkWerks suggestions. I'll see what they're interested in doing, and add them to the Service Providers list.

Our car is a 1970, and I believe that Marelli is correct for that year. It appears that Bosch is a more popular brand, but best I can tell that is because parts had been hard to get for the Marelli. Not that it was a particularly bad design. I'm open to being corrected on that. It seems Marelli parts are more widely available these days. I will find out soon enough on both points (bad joke intended).
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/lol-2.gif)
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
fiacra
post Aug 21 2022, 09:59 PM
Post #4


Person.Woman.Man.Camera.TV
**

Group: Members
Posts: 344
Joined: 1-March 19
From: East Bay Region - California
Member No.: 22,920
Region Association: Northern California
If you decide not to do it yourself I'd also suggest Vintage Werks in Washington. They do all the distributor refurbishing for my local independent Porsche shop. Their website can be a bit misleading as at first glance it looks like they only do old VW distributors, etc. They recently refurbished my distributor and it was just over $200. They charge $175-225 (plus parts) depending upon the distributor. They have a Sun distributor tester as well and sent me a graph with the advance curve.
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
gulf908
post Aug 22 2022, 12:39 AM
Post #5


Member
**

Group: Members
Posts: 123
Joined: 25-December 13
From: Sydney
Member No.: 16,795
Region Association: Australia and New Zealand
. . . Our car is a 1970, and I believe that Marelli is correct for that year . . .

Dennis

according to the workshop manual,the Bosch distributors came in in April 1970 and prior to that would have been Marelli
my #1907 is a May 1970 build and has a Bosch distributor
what month was your car built ?

cheers
Dennis (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
DennisV
post Aug 22 2022, 05:44 AM
Post #6


Member
**

Group: Members
Posts: 486
Joined: 8-August 20
From: Santa Rosa, CA
Member No.: 24,575
Region Association: Northern California
QUOTE(gulf908 @ Aug 21 2022, 11:39 PM) *

according to the workshop manual,the Bosch distributors came in in April 1970 and prior to that would have been Marelli...
what month was your car built ?

According to the info I got from Dave Pateman, ours was built in February 1970.

Given there is no date range in the parts catalog for the CDI (aka Control unit BHKZ) I'm guessing the Bosch (no condenser) is compatible?

I told myself I wasn't going to obsess over the originality on this car like our 356, but here I am...
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
rgalla9146
post Aug 22 2022, 05:46 AM
Post #7


Advanced Member
****

Group: Members
Posts: 4,569
Joined: 23-November 05
From: Paramus NJ
Member No.: 5,176
Region Association: None
I have a Marelli dizzy in a 914 6 that runs very well indeed.
I can site a direct comparison to my long time 6 that has a 911 S dizzy.
I don't have any info to offer other than the car was originally serviced in California
at Scientific Automotive (?)
I would contact Kurt at PartsKlassik. They offer parts and rebuild service.
Ask for his opinion and advice. I have no connection to him.
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
ClayPerrine
post Aug 22 2022, 08:06 AM
Post #8


Life's been good to me so far.....
***************

Group: Admin
Posts: 15,514
Joined: 11-September 03
From: Hurst, TX.
Member No.: 1,143
Region Association: NineFourteenerVille
Our six originally came with a Marelli distributor, but it had a Bosch replacement distributor in it when we got it. Once Porsche Classic starting carrying the Marelli cap and rotor set, I took the time to disassemble and clean the Marelli. It was fairly easy.

The shaft comes out, and the advance gets disassembled. Clean and lube all the pivot points on the advance mechanism, and make sure you put the springs back in the same spot they came from.

I used an old Sun distributor machine to check it (owned by Zims). The advance was right on the money.

You can call Zims (www.allzim.com) and find out how much they charge to rebuild a distributor. But they have all the right tools and the experience.

Good luck!

Clay
User is online!Profile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
dr914@autoatlanta.com
post Aug 22 2022, 09:03 AM
Post #9


914 Guru
*****

Group: Members
Posts: 7,893
Joined: 3-January 07
From: atlanta georgia
Member No.: 7,418
Region Association: None
we have PERFECT caps and rotors for the marelli Had a thousand of each made about ten years ago, then all of a sudden they began to pop up on the internet. We bought one set and they actually both were marked with our logo "auatl". Someone copied what we had done but did not realize that our logo was not factory original!!!!
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
Dave_Darling
post Aug 22 2022, 05:30 PM
Post #10


914 Idiot
**********

Group: Members
Posts: 14,991
Joined: 9-January 03
From: Silicon Valley / Kailua-Kona
Member No.: 121
Region Association: Northern California
Bosch swaps were really popular for many years, because there were no Marelli parts available. It's good to see that there are now some out there--thanks for making them available, George!

--DD
User is offlineProfile CardPM
Go to the top of the page
+Quote Post
« Next Oldest · 914World Garage · Next Newest »
 

Reply to this topicStart new topic
1 User(s) are reading this topic (1 Guests and 0 Anonymous Users)
0 Members:

 

Display Mode: Switch to: Standard · Linear+ · Switch to: Outline

Track this topic · Email this topic · Print this topic · Subscribe to this forum

- Lo-Fi Version Time is now: 7th June 2024 - 05:47 AM
Invision Power Board v9.1.4 © 2024  IPS, Inc.
All rights reserved 914World.com © since 2002
914World.com is the fastest growing online 914 community!
We have it all, classifieds, events, forums, vendors, parts, autocross, racing, technical articles, events calendar, newsletter, restoration, gallery, archives, history and more for your Porsche 914 ...