Audi20v.net

I.  Preliminaries: Bentley ref pgs:  3B: 28.47, early 7A: 28.250
                  (The Audi distributor alignment tool is not necessary.)
1.  Rotate the engine to #1 TDC.  Rotor pointing to #1 plug terminal and0-degree flywheel mark at pointer edge. Get this right!
2.  With dist cap and Hall sensor connector removed from the dist and other junk out of the way as much as possible, note the angular position relativeto horizontal (3B), or vertical (7A) of the Hall sensor connector and the rotor (these will be opposite each other) for later return to original oriention purposes.
3.  Remove the anti-tamper cover, if any, on the dist hold down clamp nut, located on the stud in the head under the dist location hole, remove nut and clamp.  I removed the anti-tamper device by hacksawing a slot across the top of it and then unscrewing it with a flat blade screwdriver.  They usually aren't on very tight.
4.  Pull dist from its locating hole, noting that the rotor turns clockwise about 1/4 inch as the dist gear is withdrawn from its mating cam gear.  Upon reassembly it must go back in with this same final removal orientation to end up in the same original position.

II. Plastic Gear Removal:

1.  Don't try to drive out the retaining pin yet!  Remove the gear plastic from its steel hub by hacksawing 2 or more diagonal cuts thru the plastic to the hub, pry or chew off the pieces.
2.  Note that both ends of the groove pin are swaged larger than the pin center dia.  Saw off the smaller pin end and file it flush with the gear hub.
3.  Support the gear hub and shaft in a suitable V block or vice jaws and drive out the pin using a 5/32" dia pin punch or an old nail on the filed end.
4.  Remove the gear hub and retain the shim washer pack for reassembly.
5.  Remove the shaft, not loosing the fiber thrust washer at the top end, and clean the dist body and Hall rotor.  If there is any oil in the distributor, service the crankcase breather system.  (This distributor doesnot use a shaft seal component, just a reverse spiral groove on the shaft in the top portion of the upper bushing.)

III.  New Bronze Gear Installation:

1.  Install the original shim pack on the shaft, followed by the new gear. Align the smaller gear pin hole with the shaft pin hole.  (Do not use the larger pin hole, it is a vendor goof.)  Support the gear hub on the far side (not on the gear teeth) and tap the roll pin part way into the shaft.  Check the dist shaft axial clearance.  It must not be tight, but should have 2 to 5 thou end play, a "just perceptable free movement" feel without binding. If not so, remove the gear and adjust the shim pack, + or -, as required. An additional .003" thick shim is provided with the gear and roll pin to
faciliate this adjustment.  Add or subtract different thickness shims until the end play is the closest to the "feel" spec.  Unlikely, but if more or different thickness shims are necessary, they can be cut from paper and added into the center of the shim pack.
2.  Drive the roll pin thru the assembly and center it in the gear.  Recheck the axial clearance "feel".

IV.  Distributor Installation:  without VAG alignment tools.

1.  Remove the black plastic shield which may have been covering and seperating the Hall area of the dist. body from the rotor.  Not all 20V dist have this shield, which may be replaced just prior to reinstalling the dist cap.
2.  Notice that there is a line embossed on the top surface of the Hall rotor immediately under the hot end of the dist rotor, and a mating line notched into the top edge of the distributor housing opposite the Hall connector and just above the Hall sensor unit.  When finally in place and locked down these two lines must line up with each other with the engine at TDC.
3.  With the dist and rotor lined up about as it was as you removed it (you forgot where that was, didn't you?) insert the dist, moving the rotor as necessary to get the gears to mesh.  Once all the way seated in place, while applying a slight counterclockwise finger bias to the rotor (thus eliminating gear mesh clearance), adjust/rotate the dist body to exactly line up the two marks, and lock it down (lightly, you may have to move it again) with the clamp and nut.  If you are not happy with the resultant orientation angle of the Hall connector, pull the dist just enough to free
the gears and rotate the rotor one gear tooth in the same direction that you would like to move the Hall connector when the two marks are again lined up.
The distributor will work in any oriention, as long as the two lines are lined up at TDC, the actual oriention just facilitates the electrical connections to the Hall and dist cap.
4.  All 200 owners who elected to short cut and not remove the intake manifold per Bentley, must now curse loudly at the Audi gods for the inaccessability of the whole dist system and the dist cap hold down clamps in particular.  7A owners need not comply.
5.  "Reinstall all components in reverse order of removal".  More of Bentley's sage advice.  If the engine won't start, recheck your TDC position for accuracy and then the distributor marks alignment for its accuracy. They must be right on.  Do not attempt to move the dist with the engine running as you did with those old point type dist, as this dist does not determine engine ignition timing.  Thank you for flying united.