I pulled the tank today. It will go to Hal's Radiator shop tomorrow.

I got the tank back and I painted the outside. I installed it and a new fuel filter. Took the car for a drive and the distributor was screaming at me at mid-range RPM and above. The bug also didn't have much power when it started screaming. Looks like I need a new distributor. I may spring and get a rebuilt 010 or 019, which ever is the right one for my engine. Or, a vacuum advanced.

biblethumpncop wrote:

I got the tank back and I painted the outside. I installed it and a new fuel filter. Took the car for a drive and the distributor was screaming at me at mid-range RPM and above. The bug also didn't have much power when it started screaming. Looks like I need a new distributor. I may spring and get a rebuilt 010 or 019, which ever is the right one for my engine. Or, a vacuum advanced.

Distributor screaming suggest a lack of oil to the bushings. A shot of WD40 or ??? may cure your problem. they're supposed to get a drop of oil in the wick under the rotor at each tune-up Does yours have points still? Which carb do you have? that could affect your choice of distributor.


If you need to replace the distributor, keep in mind that Solex carbs later than 67 year model 30 PICT-1 don't like non vacuum advance distributors. I hear a lot of grief thrown at 009 distributors on the various forums these days, mostly because people try to use them with 34-PICT-3 carbs. If you have a single Solex carb with a large brass screw on the left side of the body, it won't like a 009, 010, 031, or 050 distributor.

Offroad racers are required to use Solex 30PICT-1 carbs on 1600 class races such as Challenger/9, 11, 5/1600 and 1600 Limited Buggy. Some are claiming 90hp these days with it. Available brand new with electric choke from EMPI dealers as 98-1288-B. 2011 EMPI catalog page 98.

There's also a lot of fuss about "Chinese made" 009 distributors and poor quality. Those who fuss try to lead readers to SVDA (single vacuum) or later DVDA (dual vacuum) distributors. So you either are buying a 40+ year old distributor, or a new one made on the same assembly line as the 009s they bag on.

I purchased a 019 from Glenn on the Samba earlier today. I read good things about the rebuilt dizzy he has. He recommended the 019, so I hope I get the right one. I bought and paid for it before I read your post. I sure hope it works out for my '63 1385 with 1600 cam, stock exhaust and 30pict1 Solex carb. (Yes, I run points.)

Sounds like a good setup there. I would trust him. He's quite knowledgable about Bosch Distributors. I ran 300K miles in my Baja with a 1385, a 30PICT-1 a Norris 330 cam and a Bosch 031 distributor. It worked excellent. Made a bunch of 4x4s look silly and post-ran a 62 mile desert offroad race course in competitive Class 5 Open time with swingaxle suspension. So I was happy with that setup.

Reading about your 1385's really brought back a lot of memories. I've logged many off-road miles with 1385's, they are great little motors. Long live the 40 horse!

Looks like the distributor should arrive today- problem is I am on vacation! I am glad to finally put a quality distributor. I hope that was the reason for the noise and performance issue. There is a chance my bearings on my generator are going though. I might have to pull it as well. I don't know if I should upgrade to an alternator or just replace it with another generator. I don't run a stereo yet or several sets of lights. I read about many alternator kits being junk from China. Any experience????

I have chinese alternators on both my 66 street car and my buggy and I've had no problems but they are not driven on a daily basis,however the chinese starter that was on my buggy was a smoldering piece of trash in less than a year.

I installed the distributor and set the timing to 30* at full advance. I replaced a leaky gasket for the main jet bolt on the carb and tightened the fan belt. The noise turns out to be from the fan belt/generator but is now quiet since I tightened it up. I will drive it today and to the west side meeting tomorrow. So far, it is running great!

The generator or voltage regulator went out last night. I was smelling something that was an electrical smell for several miles. I pulled over but couldn't see anything smoking. A few miles later, my generator light (red light) came on and the electrical smell went away. Since this happened shortly after I tightened up the fan belt because it was loose and making noise, I anticipate the generator went out. I hope to get it fixed before tonight's west side meeting.

I picked up a generator and voltage regulator from Autozone, but was disheartened to find it was made in China. I pulled the old, Bosch generator out, after getting some advice from Wideopenmotorsports, Dirtjunkie and 64baja. I sent the Chinese parts back to the store, and will take the Bosch to Gen-Star to get rebuilt. I couldnt get the fan off, so hopefully they'll take it without an issue. Just an update. I hope to get it running again this week so I can take advantage of this weather, and start driving it!

Change 72.... I picked up an alternator and stand from BAP. I was able to get the fan nut off with an impact wrench. I put the alt on and found that I now need a spacer under my carb because it contacts the alt. I think I got the wiring figured out. One heavy wire (8ga??) from the starter will go to the B+ post and the thin wire (idiot light???) will go to the D+.

I will need to buy longer 8ga wire to run from the starter since the old wire only went to the regulator. In the meantime, I will take the two 10ga red wires that use to run from the generator to the regulator (regulator mounted on doghouse) and connect them to the 8ga wire that is from the starter. Then run both 10ga to the single post (B+) on the alt. That sound right? Also, will. need 8 ga wire to run from the starter to B+ on the alt, or will 10ga work?

There are 2 different alternators for Bugs.

One has an internal built-in regulator (Bosch type). I believe this is the one you have. This type you can ID by the threaded stud with a nut for the 10ga B+ wire from the starter and a 1/4 slip connector for the 16 ga (green) wire from the idiot light. This alternator requires removal of the regulator that was there for the generator and some wiring modifications to bypass that regulator. It sounds like yours had some wiring modifications to convert to 12V from 6V. Not seeing how that was done means I can't tell you how to fix it.

The other type of alternator has an external regulator (Motorola type). This has a round insulator with 3 flat bade prongs for slip connectors clustered together. This takes a plug to connect to the regulator, which is quite different from the generator regulator and different wiring again.

Neither type is very difficult to re-wire for. So don't worry about that. Pictures will help us make sure of what you have and may help us tell you how to modify your existing wiring. What you said above was not correct though.

Looking back at the car with its 76 body which should have had an alternator originally, and a 68 pan which would have come with a 12V generator. it's really hard to say what the wiring is like now.

Here is a picture of my generator and regulator, before the conversion. You can see the thick (8ga??) red wire on the right side of the regulator that comes from the starter. The smaller wire on the right side of the regulator is from the wire loom and I believe it is for the idiot light. The othe two 10 ga red wires go from the generator to the regulator. I used these two wires and spliced them into the heavy red wire from the starter.


And here is the alternator: