I started putting all the vacuum hoses onto my motor today, all brand new. I used this diagram for my 1.7L motor
Click to view attachment

Does it matter which hose goes where on the throttle body and dizzy? can the two be interchanged without any ill affects?

I know that the ports on the dizzy are for advance or retarding the timing. The vacuum hose kit that i received in a huge parts buy for FI parts had two small hoses for these two connections. The two hoses were of unequal length and so i hooked the shortest line to the front of the dizzy to the front of the throttle body, the closest connection possible and use the other hose for the longer connection. Going off the diagram above, where the red line attaches to the dizzy is where my short line attaches. However, the red line would terminate where the yellow hose connects to the throttle body and vice versa. The yellow line attaches properly on the dizzy but terminates on the throttle body where the red line goes. If this makes sense to anyone. Do i have to switch my hoses, if so, i need a longer vacuum hose, where can i buy just one hose of a certain length?

Thanks everyone

yes it matters. One is a "switched vacuum", one is a "port vacuum". Get it on the wrong side and the dizzy will advance all the time.

At idle, the hose below the butterfly will have more vacuum pulled on it. The port above the butterfly will pull more vacuum when on the throttle. The distributor should advance when on the throttle, and retard at idle. With that understanding, you know the retard port should connect below the butterfly, the advance port above.

The nipples are different sizes, match them up.

awesome, thanks everyone. is there a substitute that can be used for the hoses that can be found locally?

YEP - same question - is any rubber hose of the appropriate size adequate for this task? Any ideas on sources for such things???
Is this diagram the same for a 73 1.7L???
thx
td

There are 'American' size vacuum hoses that will work. A good VW shop should be able to get you the good clotch braided stuff. If you can't find it locally, send me a PM and I'll get some out to you.

Last question about these hoses, I know that there is a 4mm and 5mm ID lines, however, does the length of these lines matter? I would assume you wouldn't want an extremely long hose, but is there an exact length these lines need to be?

Buy the kit from AA.

Thats where the kit came from, and one of the lines to the dizzy was way too short