Hi all,
Might finally give up on points for the bus unless I can find some one selling Beru points still?

Anyway, I have an unused Compufire unit to fit the stock dizzy. The instrsuctions seem straight forward.
Any tricks/tips when installing?

Do you need to check the hight between the pick unit and disc, and also if the rotor is at the right height after installing?

Do you need to change the rotor/coil also, or are stock units fine?

Thanks

Shouldn't need to change coil or rotor. All it does is replace the condenser and points

Suggest a little loctite on the module hold down screw. Otherwise just install it and enjoy not having to worry about points ever again
Cheers.....Wayne

Thanks all.
Will have to give it a go I guess. Have never had issues with Beru points, but since I ran out of my stash (I bought a number of sets years ago) and have had to go back to Bosch, nothing but issues of course.

Make sure once you have done the conversion that you retime the engine with a strobe light

Quote:

Originally posted by MickH

so have you done it yet????? you shoulda done it years ago instead of letting them sit on the shelf...

What, I only bought the kit 8 years ago! Can't rush these things.
I only ran out of Beru points 12 months ago and have had sh%t running since.

There are two basic designs of these ignition systems - Compufire and Pertronix. I've used both with the stock coil without problems. Both require the engine to be retimed after installation.

Compufire is the better of the two (in my opinion). It has a solid module that attaches to the base plate in place of the points, with a supplied allen screw. Yes a spot of Loctite helps to hold it in place. The two leads attach to the + and - sides of the coil. The switching unit is a flat disk, with small magnets at the 3, 6, 9 and 12 o clock positions. It fits over the distributor shaft under the rotor. You may have to shorten the rotor - measure the rotor height in place first, then install the disk and rotor and see if there is any difference. On my twin carb Kombi I had to shorten the rotor by 4 mm.

Pertronics has a smaller and differently-shaped module, attached via a base plate that uses a slotted screw into the points mounting hole. Then the module bracket attaches via two mounting posts and nuts. The switching unit is not a disk like the Compufire, but is a much smaller sleeve that fits over the centre shaft. It also has four magnets in it. Being a smaller sleeve, it doesn't affect the rotor height so it's an easier install. However, its design fault is that the plastic sleeve can come apart after a year or two, due to vibration and engine heat, and the cover can work its way upwards. This will make one or more of the magnets fall out, meaning the engine suddenly runs on 3 cylinders. You can remove the sleeve and attempt to reassemble/reglue it together, but the magnets are too strong to stay in place and will zap together before you can blink.

Hey, thanks again for the great info Phil/Lee. Looks like I will have to give it a try on the week end. Lucky me....

So no one sell's Beru anymore?

Lee I didn't have the location problem and rotor shortening issue with the Pertronix on my Kombi, but I still use the stock distributor. I got rid of the Pertronix a month ago and put a Compufire in it.

I haven't seen Berus on sale here for years, although there are bound to be stockists somewhere. You can easily buy them online if you like:

http://www.beruparts.com/main.sc 

Well not from that seller Lee, but Beru still list them. The only question is who stocks them.

http://www.beru.com/products/ignition-technology/contact-sets 

The Bus Depot, where i buy most of my Kombi parts, only stocks Bosch points. They are $3.95 at the moment.

http://www.busdepot.com/details.jsp?partnumber=01011 

Thanks again. Installed the kit today, all seemed to go in OK, and needed to shorten the rotor as noted. Strange this was not detailed in the instructions!
Anyway, fired right up, minor adjustment of timing needed and all seemed OK. Have yet to take bus for a good run, but fingers crossed it's all OK.

What I have notice right away though was Dwell is now ~62 degrees!! Well out of stock spec's, but I guess that's OK.
I have also noticed the timing is a little erratic. Once warmed up, at idle it fluctuated ~1.5 degrees, but at ~2500rpm it jumped about almost 10 degrees!!

OK, I know some of this will be due to the distributor being old and warn, but advance seems reasonably smooth as you gradually rev up. It did jump about with worn points, but not to this extent, and is markedly less with new points. So is this to do with the ingnition unit, or is it all going to be in the distributor advance? (stock kombi vacuum + mechanical advance)