Distributor ID

[Tim Phillips]

I have both old VW's and old Porsches in my garage and have had VW's for years. In rooting through the junk box, I came across an old distributor marked Bosch and part number 0 231 129 031. I don't remember what this came off of. I run an 050 with Dellorto's on my B, and it may have been from this car. I can find it on pelican parts and they list it as being available for '63 to '65 356's. Is this a VW or a porsche part? If it is for the 356, who re builds them?
Thanks in advance,

[Guest]

I can only answer the last question. Registry advertiser Don Marks rebuilds them. He is affiliated with Gary and Rod Emory. See:
http://emorymotorsports.com/index.php?o ... &Itemid=98

I picked up a card from a vendor at the Toy/Lit meet in February in LA from this guy: Ed Fall. See:
http://www.vintagewerks.com

I have never dealt with either but Ed's stuff on display looked real good and Don's reputation is excellent. Now, if only I could answer the question(s) before.

As mentioned below Ab would also be a great choice.

[Mark Jung]

Tim, the 031 is a great distributor for any 356 that has a big bore kit, little up in comp, and cam change. The 031 has a 15 degree internal advance, which makes 30 degrees at the crank. Great for street and race IMHO. I think the 031 was for the 912 but I'm not sure.

[Tom Farnam]

Tim, can't say offhand what models that dizzy works for, but can answer your second question.

Rebuild of distributor - Ab Tiedemann, aka "The Hermit", who can be reached at "Afterwerke@comcast.net" is fully equipped to rebuild these.

If you have ever seen any of Ab's work, you know it will always be first class.

Tom

[Tim Phillips]

Thanks all. I'll contact Ab. Had several other "off list" replies saying he was the guy as well. Have a good weekend and get out and drive!

[Eric Wahlberg]

Tim,

Ab rebuilt my distributor a year and a half ago and it is like new. My NPR
big bore with Maestro cam and Zeniths runs much better than it did with an
050 distributor. Also, Ab rebuilt mine from a box of parts with a shaft
frozen in the body. It took about two weeks.

Eric
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tim Phillips" <tim_phillips@hughes.net>
To: <356talk@356registry.com>
Sent: Friday, April 04, 2008 8:02 PM
Subject: [356Talk] Re: Distributor ID

Thanks all. I'll contact Ab. Had several other "off list" replies saying
he was the guy as well. Have a good weekend and get out and drive!

------------------------
Tim Phillips
The Great Northwoods of Wisconsin
Custodian, 1964 C coupe #216097
Registry #15934

Post generated using Mail2Forum via email.

[Joris Koning]

I Had Don Marks rebuild all my 4-cam distributors as well as some pushrod ones in the past. I can say that his work is second to none. Don Has been doing distributors for years and really knows them. I believe that Don also does most of the distr. work for all the big shops out there.

Joris Koning
57 coupe
The Netherlands


Van: Tim Phillips [mailto:tim_phillips@hughes.net]
Verzonden: za 5-4-2008 2:02
Aan: 356talk@356registry.com
Onderwerp: [356Talk] Re: Distributor ID



Thanks all. I'll contact Ab. Had several other "off list" replies saying he was the guy as well. Have a good weekend and get out and drive!

------------------------
Tim Phillips
The Great Northwoods of Wisconsin
Custodian, 1964 C coupe #216097
Registry #15934

Post generated using Mail2Forum via email.

[Scott Tong]

I believe your distributor is what the Porsche dealers sold as a replacement distributer aftermarket for the 356 and 912 user.

Aftermarket meaning that they ran out of oem stuff and the 031 was the closest to what would work on our engines. I had one NOS with the Porsche part number on the box that I sold since I had my original one the 018 rebuilt by Don Marks about 10 years ago.

They have a aluminum housing and are not the same as the 022 that should have been on your C car. I think you said C.

After they ran out of 031's and they also were getting expensive, the 050 started being used as a replacement distributer for our cars.

I still prefer/recommend remanufacturing the original then using one of these.

This is what I recall of past distributers.

Cheers

[Steve Proctor]

The .031 is a non-stock replacement aluminum body distributor that came out when there were no viable alternatives.

Now that there are people that can restore original equipment cast iron distributors to like-new or better condition, don't waste the same amount of $$$ restoring a non-stock second-class distributor.

Harry Pellow said the 031 had issues that resulted in LOTS of advance (dangerous). Admittedly, he was admittedly a snake oil salesman and was peddling his .050s. Nonetheless, the prudent move is to find an .022 and have that one restored. You won't regret it.

Good luck.

STP

[Glenn Ring]

I restore distributors and have done quite a number of Porsche distributors.

I'm more of a VW guy but my understanding is the 031 was an original equipment distributor used on 68-69 912 engine. The came in when Bosch discontinued the cast iron in favor of the cast aluminum bodies. It was then replaced by the 061 which had vacuum and mechanical advance.

The cast iron distributor are hands down superior in operation to the cast aluminum ones. And i've done a number of 022s for customers that had 050 and dare I say 009 distributors and were extremely happy with the improved performance.

Just run them on a Sun Distributor Tester and you'll see the difference.