Broken ground wire inside distributor

tmeracz · 06-24-2005, 03:06 PM

While cleaning up and swapping some parts out of my 2.0's distributor, I noticed a small ground wire that was attached between the top 2 plates of the distributor. The top end had come undone.

Is it OK to solder it back on?

A friend of mine looked at it and told me to reattach it by brazing it.

Is one method preferred here over the other?

Also, I've changed the points out for a new unit- should I grease or lube anything in the distributor while I'm freshening this up?

Anything else to clean or spec while I'm at it?

914GT · 03:57 PM

You can solder this wire back on with a good soldering iron, and use some fine sandpaper and flux to prep the surface. I do not recommend brazing as this could overheat the area and permanently damage things. I'd disassemble the whole distributor, clean and inspect the bushings, FI contacts, and other wear points, then lightly relube as necessary. You don't want to use too much grease as it'll get thrown off and make a mess.

There's a tech article here . You can decide whether or not it's worth repairing or just replace with a new one.

Dave at Pelican Parts · Dave at Pelican Parts's Garage

You might as well replace the points plate. By the time the wires get old and tired/fatigued enough to break, usually the points plate needs replacing anyway.

--DD

tmeracz · 06-24-2005, 04:02 PM

Any reason to not bite the bullet at this point and shell out the cash for a Petronics/ Crane upgrade?

Tidybuoy · 06-24-2005, 08:14 PM

I agree with dave - you should just replace the ground plate with a new one.

I had the same experience. I tried to re-soder my ground strap in place but it just kept crumbling. I bought a new plate at pelican for about $50. My car instantly started running better so it was probably broken or braking for some time.

I also upgraded to the Petronics at the same time. I'm not sure if the Petronics unit requires the ground strap but I would replace it anyway. Most guys will tell you to carry a spare set of points in your 914 tool kit incase the petronics unit fails - at that point, you would need the ground strap.

Vern

tmeracz · 06-24-2005, 11:44 PM

Vern, Dave?
I'm seriously considering the Crane kit w/ the optical pickup. Can one of you give me a definitive answer on wether or not I need to add a new plate to this order?

How about the tach pickup? Is the Crane system different from the MSD? If so, how- physically or electronically, or is there a tach pickup adapter already bundled in w/ the Crane kit?

Tidybuoy · 06-25-2005, 11:08 AM

I don't have experience with the crane or msd but someone here will know the answer.

Dave at Pelican Parts · Dave at Pelican Parts's Garage

The Crane optical pickup has its own ground wire; it does not ground through the points plate. So it should work even without the ground braid being connected.

That said, I bet your advance will kick in more smoothly and the distributor will just plain work better if you do install a new points plate.

Crane makes several different types of gizmos. The optical gizmo is only a points replacement, it does nothing else but trigger the spark of whatever system it is plugged into. They also have a CDI--Capacitive Discharge Ignition--unit, and some or most of their CDIs offer multiple-spark capability. Those work much like the MSD units do. In some cases the MSD/CDI boxes do require some special gizmo to be plugged in between the tach output and the tach, and in some cases you can just plug directly into the tach output. I haven't been able to figure out which ones are which, though...

--DD