M10 vacuum advance, ships to USA

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Stand-in
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My E21(s): 1977 320i US Manual
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M10 vacuum advance, ships to USA

Post by Stand-in »

I need a vacuum advance canister for my spark distributor as a tired hand let slip my distributor breaking the connection to the vacuum advance. Its a 2.0 distributor and runs clockwise. Year of production 1977. Presuming they are swappable I don't care about the retard function, so a single out canister is best, I also assume that Euro and USA distributors are the same not withstanding vacuum canister and base timing. (Better fuel economy with just advance, retard is an emissions thing)


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mr edd
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Re: M10 vacuum advance, ships to USA

Post by mr edd »

Hi .you will struggle to get a 320i vacuum advance from Europe as the 320i (2lt 4cylinder) as they were the rarest model in Europe .from what I believe less than 2000 cars made in left hand drive and about the same in rhd...could you get a vacuum capsule off a later 1.8 distributor locally and turn it upside down as it's only where the vacuum pipes come out that dictates weather it's for a clockwise or anticlockwise distributor..I have compared a 1977 320i dizzy and a 1981 316 dizzy and the vacuum capsules look identical except from where the vacuum hoses connect..
Last edited by mr edd on Sun Mar 16, 2025 8:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
e21 320 (12/1975) 320i/4 (3/77)running gear.
e21 316 (1981) TRE702X.
Stand-in
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Posts: 72
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My E21(s): 1977 320i US Manual
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Re: M10 vacuum advance, ships to USA

Post by Stand-in »

mr edd wrote: Sun Mar 16, 2025 4:58 pm Hi .you will struggle to get a 320i vacuum advance from Europe as the 320i (2lt 4cylinder) as they were the rarest model in Europe .from what I believe less than 2000 cars made in left hand drive and about the same in the...could you get a vacuum capsule off a later 1.8 distributor locally and turn it upside down as it's only where the vacuum pipes come out that dictates weather it's for a clockwise or anticlockwise distributor..I have compared a 1977 320i dizzy and a 1981 316 dizzy and the vacuum capsules look identical except from where the vacuum hoses connect..
Ok I will keep that in mind, I will have a look at 316 dizzies. I do wonder if there is any difference in the amount of vacuum advance however....
I am also looking to see if VW bosh dizzies have an interchangeability to them, they are quite similar. I called my buddy from down the road to see if we couldn't play around with his points distributor but he said that he had sold it and switched to electronic ignition from a 1990 golf or some other.
Stand-in
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Posts: 72
Joined: Tue Jan 09, 2024 2:46 am
My E21(s): 1977 320i US Manual
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Re: M10 vacuum advance, ships to USA

Post by Stand-in »

Found a solution, it was cheaper to pick up a whole distributor 2nd hand off of a used parts distributor.
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Jeroen
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Re: M10 vacuum advance, ships to USA

Post by Jeroen »

:thumbsup
Regards/groeten, Jeroen
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