Vacuum advance dist. for Model A

[Bob C]

Originally Posted by Hitman

That’s not correct. The Bosch 010 distributor was a VW bus distributor used only one year, and used in industrial applications for years after that. The Bosch 009 distributor was a two year VW bug distributor and used extensively in industrial engines later. The 009 never had the #3 cylinder retard. I don’t think the 009 distributor is good on T’s or A’s because they are centrifugal advance and don’t fully advance until 3000 rpm. Quality points and condensers are extremely hard to find these days.

VW’s ran hot on the #3 for reasons that had nothing to do with the oil cooler.

And the reason was??

[Hitman]

Originally Posted by Bob C

And the reason was??

Briefly, the #3 cylinder on a VW is like the #4 cylinder on an A. It's out of the way and doesn't get as much cooling as the other cylinders do. The #3 in a VW is the forward most cylinder due to crank journal spacing, and it's out of the direct airflow from the cooling fan. The #4 receives air directly on that side. It runs hotter due to the lack of air flow, and even then only ran hotter when they went to a 1600 cc engine with a higher compression ratio.

Pre 1971 the oil cooler is in the cooling airflow path of both the #3 and 4 cylinders, but only #3 runs hotter.

Happy to discuss further offline since this is off topic.