If you have a bad distributor and little or no money to spend, and you are NOT running a PICT 34 carb a 009 will get you going for cheap. I've used them . . . in fact, I think I have 009s in two of my three running, driving VWs as we speak. The reason I'm running any of them is money. You can (or could . . . Bosch recently stopped producing them from what I hear) pick one up for as little as $49 . . . not much more than the points, condensor, rotor button and cap for that old worn out vacuum advance distributor that's started giving trouble after 30 something years of service. The 009 will work, and it's cheap. If you want something that WORKS WELL, you'll have to spend a little more money. Maybe a lot more money.
Just a bit of advice about what you read in the magazines . . . they are in the business of selling advertizing and magazines. If they tell people not to buy parts advertized in their magazine, they can't sell ads. The price of the magazine would go up significantly. People would stop buying the magazine. They would go out of business. Don't get me wrong, there are sometimes great tech articles in Hot VWs . . . and a while back, there were a few good ones even in Trends. You just need to take what they say with a grain of salt. Just 'cause you read it in a magazine doesn't make it true!
