Distributor Shaft Alignment, Small sector to Left/driver side? or Right/pass. side? Options

[Gatornapper]

Haynes Manual, page 65, Fig. 3.6, referenced from page 64, Pp. 6, #7: "install it so that.........an angle of 12 deg. .......with the small sector facing towards the outside of the car."

On my 914, the small sector is on the left.

If I'm reading this correctly, this is ambiguous and does not clarify it "the outside of the car" is the Driver's side or Passenger side.......

Can someone clarify this please? Or am I missing something (not the first time...).....

TIA,

GN

[rhodyguy]

The one pictured that has the circles is for a Djet system. A Ljet dist has no trigger point wiring provision. You want a part number ending in AB. I'm confused.

[Gatornapper]

Post 6 is mine - BEFORE I got the body rotated properly - BUT the position of the rotor did not change, as that is determined by the position of distributor driveshaft.

The pic on post 25 I got off this forum as I wanted a pic not of the distributor but of the rotor position at TDC. Yes, the distributor is different, but I am not concerned with that. My dizzy is a 178 009 that apparently the Porsche dealer put int when they installed the Webers and many say is not good for this engine. I am soon replacing it with a nice 1.8 dizzy I just got off eBay that has vacuum advance. It is an 0 231 181 009/022 905 205 AA.

No one has yet answered my question of the position of the rotor at TDC - it must be the same on all 914 - 4's as I see it, and I believe it, when facing the front of the car from the rear, should point to about 11 o'clock, and that's where the cap tower to Plug #1 must also be at TDC. That's where it is in the pic I posted on post #25 and the reason I posted that pic.

I believe that is where my #1 cap tower was located before I started having engine problems. But now, at TDC, the rotor is pointed to about 1 o'clock.

HOW DID IT CHANGE? Could the gear on the bottom of the dizzy shaft slip? I cannot see how it could.

And is not 11 o'clock (from the rear) the position of all rotors and the #1 cap tower on all 914's?

TIA,

GN

The one pictured that has the circles is for a Djet system. A Ljet dist has no trigger point wiring provision. You want a part number ending in AB. I'm confused.

[theer]

No one has yet answered my question of the position of the rotor at TDC - it must be the same on all 914 - 4's as I see it, and I believe it, when facing the front of the car from the rear, should point to about 11 o'clock, and that's where the cap tower to Plug #1 must also be at TDC. That's where it is in the pic I posted on post #25 and the reason I posted that pic.

I believe that is where my #1 cap tower was located before I started having engine problems. But now, at TDC, the rotor is pointed to about 1 o'clock.

HOW DID IT CHANGE? Could the gear on the bottom of the dizzy shaft slip? I cannot see how it could.

And is not 11 o'clock (from the rear) the position of all rotors and the #1 cap tower on all 914's?

The answer is NO. The rotor in the 009 points to different "clock" position than the rotor in a stock dist. It's still the #1 cylinder, though, so all that matters is that you have the wires matched up to the rotor's position underneath.
Hope that helps.

[Gatornapper]

The answer is NO. The rotor in the 009 points to different "clock" position than the rotor in a stock dist. [i] It's still the #1 cylinder, though, so all that matters is that you have the wires matched up to the rotor's position underneath.
Hope that helps.

Thank you Tom for noting this! I put in the 0 231 181 009 dizzy (for 1.8 engine with both vacuum & centrifugal advance) with a Pertronix 1847V Ignitor and the engine ran perfectly! Yes, TDC is now at the 11 o'clock position now (as is mark on rim of dizzy).

HOWEVER, the ignitor module died after 10 minutes of driving. Yes, it was wired correctly (verified by Pertronix) and no it did not burn up. Using MDS Blaster II coil w/.8 ohm resistor ahead of + terminal on coil as required. No - voltage does not exceed 14v as alternator is only producing 12.8 +/-. I will replace it this week.

Returning the ignitor to Pertronix to see if they will cover it on warranty, but main question is: what fried the module? There is continuity to ground on the black wire all the time, circuit does not open on dizzy rotation. Pertronix has no idea, and neither do I.

But that is my first and main question. Right now I'm afraid if I put in a new ignitor, it will also go bad in 10 minutes - or so.

Pertronix was clueless - so I'll be real surprised if anyone here has any idea. They said their ignitors almost never fail.

GN