'76mintgrün'02

what are the tips?

A grease gun works well for pushing out stuck pistons. I had to do that with mine. The threads on the gun's hose fit the bleeder holes [edit- they fit the incoming supply line holes, not the bleeders]. The nice thing about using grease is that they don't POP when they come out, like they do with air. Then you'll need to clean the rust out of the bores. In mine, the rust was all in the last 1/4", outside of the seal. If you do buy remanufactured calipers, save the original bleeders because sometimes the new ones are too tall and will not clear the wheels.

+1 for the JB weld fix. I've had good luck with this product on similar fittings. It is compatible with antifreeze and it will not harden. Permatex® Super "300" Form-A-Gasket® Sealant, 4 OZ - Permatex WWW.PERMATEX.COM

It appears the CSB was recently replaced.

The cast iron distributors are a bit different than the later styles. They use that larger hard fiber washer in John's kit. It looks like phenolic, not waffled like the smaller ones. That kit was still $15 when I ordered one 12 years ago. Now, it's ten times that. (Hi Slavs!)

The VW distributors are driven with that little puck that has an offset key on the bottom; whereas the BMW distributors have a skewed gear. When the engine speeds up and slows down, that gear pushes up and pulls down, so the washers are getting compressed again and again. I think that has a lot to do with them failing. They are the first part of the distributor to fail. Another neat thing about the VW distributors is that the puck comes off with a pin that's held in with a spring keeper ring. So, no need to drill out the factory pin. I use a roll pin in place of the peened one, so I can get in easily and reuse it. Glen Ring does nice work. I'll bet he's not paying $8 per washer, but wouldn't be surprised if that's what he's asking. Can you prove me wrong?

maybe that was back when the washers were a buck? REPAIR SET DISTRIBUT by BMW 12-11-8-630-239 $156.11

Why do you think they used fiber washers? What characteristics would help them perform well? Do you think the waffle texture is important? .5" ID .820" OD .032" thick. OD could be slightly larger or smaller. They could also be modified to fit, if need be. They have a hard life. It's hot and oily. Not all fiber will tolerate that. Fiber that swells will make the shaft too tight and bad things will happen. Fragile fiber washers will fall apart and you're left with axial play which causes erratic timing. I'm all for finding cheaper alternatives, but I also understand that spending $16 for two new ones that are proven to work is not a large investment. It's just frustrating, since they used to be much cheaper (and I failed to stock up). Most of what's inside the Bosch rebuild kits does not fit our distributors and they only include one of the two fiber washers we need. The steel shim washers are the same ID/OD as the fiber washers. Having extras will allow you to dial in the proper axial clearance.

I think they only put the wool felt in the early style distributors. (pre '75) The Bosch waschers are around .032" thick.

There are still single washers available online, but the price jumped from around a buck a piece to eight bux the last time I looked. It's Frrrrrrrrrustrating. I want to buy a ten pack at the old prices. I have not read of anyone using alternative washers. You can find the distributor fiber washers through Porsche and VW parts suppliers. Here's an ePay seller with "more than 10 available" at $9 each and $14 shipping, which is a joke. It'll mail for the price of a postage stamp. The originals are textured, which may be so that oil can get trapped in the low spots. Back in the day, these 10 packs were $11. (sore topic) Tom

Yes, but they don't have to do with your fuel gauge issues. It looks like you're missing the little plastic insulating bushings under the nuts on your fuel pump. The holes are oversized for the studs and the bushings locate the pump. They may also help with heat transfer from the head, but I don't think they make much difference in that way. Part #5. No. Description Supp. Qty From Up To Part Number Price Notes 01 Push rod KFST. PUMPE 1 13311250398 $12.93 02 Insulator AF 1 11111721614 $6.77 03 Set circlip 10 4,0 2 07509064292 ENDED 04 Pin 1 13310075773 $3.60 ENDED 05 Insulating bushing 2 13310075752 $1.57 The other thing I noticed is that the idle cut off solenoid doesn't have a wire on it, but the arrow might be pointing to the wire and you may have already reconnected it. The solenoid cuts off fuel to the idle jet, unless it has 12V (with the key on).

I just remembered your post in another thread, saying you don't like Bosch points.

Pessimist! I wasn't sure whether Scott knew the Bosch numbers that fit his distributor, so I shared them. Then, just for kix, I googled them. This seller has more than ten available and they cost less than NAPA's, even including shipping. Buy more than one set and the shipping cost ratio will go down. BMW Opel Saab VW BOSCH Points 1-237-013-006 or 01-002 NOS 1958-1966 WWW.EBAY.COM Fits car MAKE(s): BMW Saab NSU Opel VW. Fits Year(s):1956 - 1966. Part Manufacturer: Bosch. The seller shows photos of other points too, so it'd be good to make it clear which part number you are wanting to purchase. The nice thing about hunting down NOS parts is that they may have been made before the quality went to sh!t. These are made of 100% Germanium. I just ordered a set from another seller who only had one to offer. $16 with free shipping from Florida. They're still out there, but you're right, you can no longer buy them at the local auto parts store (and the one's you can buy might be crappy, compared to the old ones). Tom

If seam sealer keeps the water out, why bother welding? Seam sealer inside the joint seems better than outside the joint. (But you can't put it in the joint if you're going to be melting metal). I'm not trying to convince anyone to do it my way, just adding a few thoughts and questions to the discussion. Tom

Oh. I wondered why they did not look familiar.

My Bosch book lists these parts numbers. Contact set = 01 002 or 1 237 013 006 Condenser = 02 006 or 1 237 330 067 Rotor = 04 003 or 1 234 332 070 Cap = 03 012 or 1 235 522 058 The short number is the new numbering system and the longer one is the old number. They're the same parts. Please let us know what you find. I'd like to purchase a set as well. Thanks, Tom

By weld them shut, do you mean weld the plugs in place, or make patches for the holes and weld those in? The way the plugs fit in, they have overlapping metal which will trap water, unless it is welded from the bottom. If you're using the factory plugs, how will you weld them in so as to keep water out of that joint? I'm not trying to cause trouble. I'm just wondering how you'll go about it.

They may not serve a purpose, but why weld them up? I took mine out to deal with the rust under/on them and then painted the floor pan and plugs separately. It's easy to tap them back into shape if they're bent. Then I smeared some body caulk in the seam before spinning them back in. I didn't use much sound dampening on the floor of my car, but did put circular pieces over the plugs.

I'm not saying you're wrong, but I don't subscribe to the throw-away mentality. Opening them is not difficult. I took the covers off of these to compare the guts and weighed them just for kicks. My '76 came with the plastic capped relays like the one on the left, but I replaced them with the metal style sitting next to it. The yellow one next to that came from an e21 and the one on the far right is the five prong style. It took some scrounging at the junkyard to find a five prong relay that was made in GERMANY to replace the Spanish one, but now I have a matched set. I even gave them a little black-wash to bring out the lettering. I've got plenty of spares if one of them craps out. Tom

I did not notice enough of a difference for it to be worth adding the extra wiring. I put very little effort into trying to see a difference between them when I did the test, so I don't really know how big of a difference the wiring would make. It's already a big enough improvement to make me happy and keeping things simple makes me happy too. So that's what I'm going to do. I did cleanup the terminal ends when I swapped them. I'm wondering about cleaning the contacts in my old relays now, to see if that helps more juice get through.

They only put one on the carb in that location and that is the ported vacuum nipple. This is a great example of why it's so helpful to post photos! I've also discovered things when sharing photos on the site. Post some more! Tom

There's really no need to mess with getting it to TDC to swap distributors. Just use a piece of tape or sharpie to mark the top edge of the distributor body where it aligns with the rotor tip. Then put a piece of tape on the new distributor in the same place and align the rotor there when it's installed. You can clock the distributor wherever you want as long as the rotor and body relationship stay the same. I thought it'd be cool to clock mine so the advance pod was on the carburetor side, but then learned that that orientation puts the points back where they're hard to adjust, so I spun it back around, putting the pod on the exhaust side. I also like it when the distributor number faces forward. You'll need to align the rotor around ten degrees counter clockwise from where you want it to land, due to the skewed gear spinning it as it drops in. If you pull that vacuum line off with the engine running at idle and it's sucking like crazy, that's manifold vacuum. Ported vacuum will not be sucking at all while idling, except while it is warming up and it's idling higher than normal. Manifold vacuum would have been my preference with the original curve, but with Jeff's you'll need to use ported. Otherwise you'll have too much advance at idle. The problem I had using ported vacuum was that I was getting pinging between 2-3K rpm when I gave it gas while under load. So, listen carefully while out on your test drives. Tom

From a 2009 FAQ post 0 231 181 011 Bosch It is a good number for an original BMW 2002 distributor, but was used only for one month of production, and was discontinued long ago. So it was used on a standard 2002 only November 1974, then Bosch's catalog says "Superseded by 0 231 176 059" which is now noted as "Article to be discontinued."

That s the pivot for the throttle linkage. The shaft goes quite a way into the hole, so there's room for the engine to move. It's a slip joint fore and aft as well as a pivot. Tom

Jeff's suggestion to set the timing at idle is based on the new curve. The rebuilt distributors I've spun on the Sun did not start giving more advance until around 1900 rpm, so it isn't necessary to get the idle just right to set the timing. On old worn distributors the timing can vary a lot with changes in idle speed, so there are better ways to set the timing. You can go back and forth between adjusting timing and the idle speed, but you're right about the sequence being 'timing first and then fuel' when it comes to adjusting the idle mixture screw. Did Jeff give you any advice about which vacuum source to use? Manifold vacuum will add an additional 12 degrees or so at idle, whereas ported won't add any. So, M-vacuum works better with long-curve distributors and P-vacuum with short ones. Here's a current discussion on that topic -- https://www.bmw2002faq.com/forums/topic/335822-weber-3236-vacuum-advance-question I'm guessing Jeff expects you to use ported vacuum, since manifold vacuum will bump your 12-15 degrees up to 24-27 degrees at idle. Set the light to 12 degrees of advance and rotate the distributor with the engine idling so that the OT line on the flywheel aligns with the driver's side of the oval viewing hole. The BB is at 25 degrees before TDC (OT line) so you can do a little simple math to use it for total advance measurements. If you left the light set at 12 degrees and spun the engine up to where the distributor was all-in and saw the BB in the window, you'd have 37 degrees of total advance. If it's not in the window, bump the timing light up and down until it is and then add that number to 25 for your total. I find that easier than bumping the light up thirty-whatever degrees to look for the OT line. Steven is correct about the importance of having the rotor pointing to the same place on the body when swapping distributors. As long as that's the same as it was, you can rotate the distributor body to any position (or swap to a different distributor). There's no need to go through the #1 at TDC as long as it was done right to begin with. Tom