What does your timing look like?

There is a condition refered to as phase shifting that can occur in distributers. To understand shifting one must understand timing.

The relationship of when the coil fires to where the rotor points is built into the distributor. So your basic problem shouldn't be any worse than just correcting the timing.

To describe an instance of phase shifting imagine the later v8 distributor that uses a four armed wheel spinning like an alternator to induce a pulse that is used to time the firing of the coil (openning the primary circuit - triggers the coil). The little wheel spins with the distributor shaft and the poles of the armature are fixed in the housing. For various reasons that wheel has been known to twist on the shaft creating spark when the lug in the dist isn't facing the rotor finger.

If you ever install one of the optical triggers (to replace your point triggered transistor unit)you will find instructions for getting the phase right. As long as you haven't changes the position of the points radially in the distributer the phasing is created with the design of the distributor (if the cap is on right).

BTW, one bit of trivia I picked up a generation ago is that the MB D-jet controllers are really modified dual VW units, with each side doing 4 cylinders. I have seen numerous 4 cyl failures of the controller for this reason. One side fails.

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Steve Brotherton
Continental Imports
Gainesville FL
Bosch Master, ASE Master, L1
33 years MB technician