Which ignition system do you have in your 912?  Bosch 009, 022, 031, 050, 061, or other distributor?  Have you converted to a pointless ignition, added a capacitive discharge unit, switched coils?   Do you use stock ignition wires and plugs, or.......?  Thanks to Andy Daniels for suggesting this topic.

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From: Scott D, 1/7/07;  I thought I'd send you my thoughts on what I'm running in "Rufus". I've gone with a RSR 0012 distributor from Will at CSP using a Pertronix Ignitor inside, instead of points, along with a standard Bosch blue coil. This is paired up with a set of Will's standard plug wires and Iridium spark plugs. Keeping it all in line is a Pertronix digital rev limiter, also from Will. With this combo in place I haven't had to touch the system for over two years. My engine originally came to me with a 009 distributor in it and it didn't run like a Porsche. Now it's a pleasure to drive. When all is right with the carbs (remanufactured split-shafts) and the ignition, these cars perform very nicely. Keep up the good work and hope to see you at an event soon. Scott D.

From: PAUBOOKER;  I had an 050 in and it ran pretty well. Then when I put on a set of Dellorto's I got my hands on a 205 from one of the VW hot rod shops. Centrifugal advance and a vacuum retard for heavy loads. Works awfully well. It did come with a rev limiting rotor that had to be disabled. 
Paul

From: Robert Burn; ; I recently replaced my original, terribly worn 031 distributor with an 009. The car runs much smoother now, but you have to adjust the timing just short of "pinging" to get the best acceleration. Bob Burn 

From: John Wieler;  I recently purchased a nice 68 912 . As the orig 061 dis was worn I thought I would install a 050 unit , After installation and a quick check on timing (3 deg after with a strobe) the car has NO power in the city to the point it has to be run up to about 3 k to get it moving (burn that clutch to get it moving) then it lurchs and jerks all the time this is the 2 dist. with the same results, the old 061 although worn was a least street drivable , this 050 is actually makes the car a liabliliy on the street due to erratic acceleration. I have checked the timing, points and about everything I could think of but to no avail.
Any suggestions?
The advance is not quite as high as it was on the 061 (about 40+ deg) on the 061 and the 050 is about 35 at about 3k rpm
8/25/01 ok just an update
I haven't put the 061 or the 50 on a dist machine but... by setting the 050 at 5deg ADVANCE with a timing light rather then the 3 deg RETARD with a timing light as the 061 specs call for I got a acceptable driveability, with a little higher idle (1100RPM which I am sure can be brought down a little. A little fine tuning maybe a to 6 deg ADVANCE or back a little to 3 deg ADVANCE may just do it.
When I get this dialed in I can put in my pertronix ignitor , I like to work with one variable at a time. Also the first 050 dist I got had a warped point plate. The dist body had not been built to accept screws to anchor the plate and the plate was simply pressed (forced) into the body. duh!. I don't believe that was part of the German tooling. Also the hold down screw that came with the Pertronix Igniter is not straight in relation to the bevel of the flat head screw and will tend to lift one side of the plate and prevent the pickup assy from lying flat. Junk the screw and replace it with another (be carefull of the length or it will hit the weights inside and prevent advance).  Anyone got anykind of input on this I would like to hear from you as I'm pretty new at the Porsche thing

From: ejk1976;  i own a 912E and have the original distributor in it. i have also added the pertronix ignitor as well as a MSD 6A(itz a capacitive discharge unit). i have regular bosch plugs, a new bosch blue coil and fyrebraid ignition wires. all is well here with this 912E :)

From: Steven Thomas;  I am in need of information on electronic ignition for my 1967 912.... recommendations...pros and cons....... Steven Thomas, Santa Rosa, Ca.

From: Wendell Hartley; Hello Rick, thanks for this great site.  It is much appreciated.  I have used the 050 since 1983 in my 69 912 & noticed a significant performance increase especially when used with the Dellorto carbs.  I use the original coil and use the "fyrebraid" ignition cables.   One advantage of the 050 (for those that still change points) is you can use the 044 points which are available from any VW parts house for around $2.20.  Sure beats the high price of points for the 061.  I am considering using either the Pertronix or the Compufire in the near future.  Good luck to all. Wendell Hartley.

From: jerry kingman;  rick-   i just went through my motor and changed to weber 40 carbs. to the ignition i have put new premium wires from GRP which seems to be about the best co. for prices on most things. also i have bosch regular plugs, not platinum. i have put in a new bosch blue coil and a new 050 distributor with a pertronix igniter which i like because of its compact size how it fits into the distributor body with no external box. i couldn't believe the distributor was only $75 new! now i have a complete new ignition system.  jerry kingman 67' snrf. coupe

From: Douglas Melvin; I like the 050, the advance curve is correct. The curve and total advance for an 009 are NOT correct for these cars! A bit of wisdom imparted to me by "The Maestro follows. " The .009 is a VW Distributor with only some 20 degrees advance. The .050 has some 28 Degrees Mechanical Advance (Range: 26-29, 300+ tested), and works Just Great with 5 Degrees Static and 33 High Speed, MUCH   BETTER than ANY VW Distributor,  the .009 included!  Because of the lousy combustion chamber  design, VW Distributors have about 20 degrees mechanical advance, that plus the static VW timing of 7.5 degrees gives 27.5 Max. The Porsche Combustion Chamber, being of much better design, tolerates a High Speed Timing of 35 +/-2 or a range of 33-37 degrees. I think 35-37 is too much for the gas these days and prefer 33.
      The ".031" Repolacement Distributor  holds the Record for the Highest Advance- 53 degrees in the Distributor. Piston Popping Timing.
      Original Distributors when old, or .009's timed with too much advance, have the annoying habit of idling at 1000 rpm, then revving  up   to 1800 rpm. What happens is an auto-catalytic reaction- the distributor advances a few degrees,  and the engine revs up a little, so the distributor advances some more, etc, until a new equiluibrium is reached- usually around 1800 rpm. If you were to check the Tming then (with the Sears Light having the Magic Dial), you would see the timing at 15 degrees or more advance.
      I had exactly this happen to me all the time- on Original Distributors that checked out pretty well on the Sun Machine. Unfortunately, when running in the engine, the damn  thing will idle at 3 degrees Advance, then slowly move up to 4, 5, 6 degrees- them WHOM- 1800 rpm and 15 degrees Advance."
DOUGLAS  MELVIN,  ZUFFENHAUS, RICHMOND  CA, 510-236-5100

From:  Matt Cooley;  Hi all, does anyone have experience running a Bosch 009 distributor in a 912 with Weber 40IDF carbs. The motor is otherwise stock. I have heard conflicting points of view. This is a street car with an occasional track event.  Thanks, Matt Cooley 1967 912

From: mark v. hillman; I have a question before I answer the ignition system question.  Can anyone tell me which wire on the back of my '67 tachometer connects to the coil/distributor?  I have a "12v." spade connector, another with a " - " negative sign, and one that has the number "1 " on it.  I am assuming the 1 terminal is the correct one, but would like to confirm that.My motor uses an 031 distributor (added), Berol yellow wires (VW), stock (Bosch) plugs, and points (soon to be replaced by a Pertronics unit, fitted to all of my former points cars). Thanks

From: Mike Day; I use a Bosch 050 distributor with standard coil, wires and plugs. It runs great!
Mike Day
Bloomfield Hills, MI

From: Jones Low;  For the past year I have been running the following ignition setup with very good results:
1.  Original "061" distributor (vacuum and mechanical advance).
2.  Stock Bosch points, condenser, rotor, and cap.
3.  NGK plugs.
4.  Crane Hi-6 CD ignition with tach transformer.
The results has been:
1.  Very good cold engine startup with no prolong cracking.
2.  There's a little rough idling when the engine is cold but idles smoothly when warm or hot.
3.  Good acceleration in all speed ranges.
4.  Better gas mileage (22-24 mpg).
I like the Crane application since I can convert it back to stock with very little trouble.
Jones Low

From: Ron Bateman;  I bought my 912 as an uncompleted project car.  The engine was out of the car, in rebuilt longblock form.  It had a 009 distributor, and another 022 in a box of misc. parts.  Also in that box was a Mark Ten B capacitive discharge system, which looks a lot like the Permatune unit.  I haven't hooked it up but I am curious.   Anyone heard of this system?

From: Robert Burn;   I still have the original vacuum advance distributor (031 I believe) that came with the car, un-rebuilt!  Since the car has been off of warranty (12K miles) I have had a Delta Mark Ten CD ignition system, that was replaced with a newer model about 15 years ago.  I use a Bosch "blue" coil, heavy duty ignition wires from Performance Products, and Bosch W6BC spark plugs. Given the cost differential between the 031 and 009 distributors, I would be very interested in hearing how to retrofit the 009 to a '68 that was designed to use the vacuum system.

From: Jerry Allston;  I have replaced the distributor with a 009, Bosch platinum plugs, blue coil, Permatune CD ignition and the Pertronix Ignitor.  All work well together, the engine is smoother than before.   I finally can get a good lower idle without shaking the car.  Pertronix folks were very helpful with tech questions regarding my combination.  Also I'm not on the ragged edge during emmissions.  I was able to run in and out without detuning (ie crawling in and out of testing).  Thanks again for the forum !     Jerry Allston  plate 68 912   Arizona.

From: Chris Smith; Hi Rick, I installed a Pertronix Ignitor on my 912E a couple of years ago and put a Bosch blue coil on at the same time. This summer I installed a MSD 6A ignition on the car and advanced the timing a bit more. It made quite a difference in all respects. I've heard about Pertronix problems but I haven't experienced any such problems myself. I mounted the MSD on the drivers side rear engine compartment where it's out of harms way. I installed some high performance shielded plug wires and I'm looking into replacing the coil with a matched unit from MSD. Hope you had a great holiday season and keep up the great site that we all appreciate soooo much.
-Chris
Chris Smith  
Systems and Network Department
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

From; Kanas, Jon B; Which ignition system?   Bosch 050.  Converted to a pointless ignition? No.  Plan to convert to Perlux Ignitor when car comes out of storage in the spring.  Capacitive discharge unit? No. Switched coils? Yes;  Running Bosch Blue coil.  Sock ignition wires? Yes, with Beru ends. and plugs? Yes, regular Bosch copper-core.  Car did not run properly when I attempted to use Bosch platinum.
Regards, Jon B Kanas
Lockheed Martin Corporation

From: Giolli, Florio;  I use an .050 distributor and the complete pertronics ignition system(coil, wires and ignitor). This seems to work really well and has made the engine run stronger. No more changing points to boot. Who's better than me. Now if I could stop the oil from dripping from the oil sump, it would be nirvana. Flo
1968 PORSCHE 912 vid# 12804324

From: Jason Terada; I'm running the original cast-iron distributor in my '66 912, which I rebuilt using a kit and parts from Stoddard. The kit included a new set of insulators, screws, terminals, etc., to exorcise this vintage distributor of internal shorts, grounding problems, and to get rid of all of those buggered-up bolt heads. In addition, Stoddard sells a Teflon sliding surface for the ignition advance weights, which I used, since the old plastic one had a groove worn in it, and was cracked in several places. I also replaced the advance weight return springs with new ones.
I do not have the model numbers available here at work, but be aware that some VWs use a cast iron distributor that is almost identical in appearance to the one used in a '66 912, except that the TDC mark for the #1 cylinder is 180 degrees off. I found this out the hard way. These VW distributors
may be good for scavenging parts, though. 
Everything else is stock in my car, with the exception of a Bosch Blue ignition coil. My understanding is that the original Beru bakelite spark plug connectors are getting scarce, but this may only be a rumour.

From: Dean Klein;  Bosch 050 - that's the one Harry Pellow, aka "The Maestro" recommends.  I also have a "Blue Coil" and stock ignition and plug wires. 
It works for me. ;)
Dean
'67 912 Targa

From: JohnFLacey;  I had them use all stock/OEM replacements in my rebuild, except that the spark plug/ignition wires are siliconized.   Still changing points and plugs, etc., twice a year.  John L.

From: Ian Gunney; The engine that I am currently building for my 66 912 has an 050 distributor -all else standard.  Ian

From: TDVW66;  009 with compufire.

From: Ron Anthony;  H.N.Y. Rick!! We used the stock distributor (having had it checked out) with the Pertronix Ignitor instead of regular points and an electronic ignition. New plug wires and new tech plugs all seemed to help as well.  The AL-6 (?) helped make the engine run much smoother. Ron.

From: L.C. Mixon;  Bosch 022, Accel Coil, 8mm hi-per wires, Bosch Copper+ Plugs.  L.C. Mixon, 1967 912 (1SXY67)

From: Bill Todd;  Happy 2000! I use a Bosch "009" distributor with Compufire Electronic Ignition Module installed. It was easy to do, and has been trouble free, which I can't say about the Perlux unit. I'd installed one of their pieces of junk early on, and had problems with it. Their lousy tech support didn't deem it necessary to respond. So much for Pertronix!
I usually use Fyrebraid ignition leads from Performance Products, but have a set of stock leads installed right now. I just topped my engine, and will put the Fyrebraid leads back on when I change back to detergent oil.
I'm currently using a Bosch Blue coil, but am investigating the matching coil for the ignition system from Compufire.
If I change oil coolers & shroud, I'll probably want to go to a Bosch "050" distributor, since #3 cylinder won't be in the airstream anymore, and all cylinders will be firing the same.
Have a great year, and thanks for all the Porsche stuff to date!  Bill

From: Mort Marley; Re your inquiry about ignitions.  912E s/n 1733 was retrofitted 10 years ago with an Allison XR700 optical ignition, eliminating maintenance.  It has not been touched since.  The kit was purchased from J. C. Whitney but I haven't seen it in recent catalogs.  Write or call Allison Performance Ignitions, 905 Columbia Street, Brea, CA 92621, 1-800-937-3887.  Cheers, Mort

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