I'm thinking about getting a 940 for wife.com but I only know 240's. I've been looking around and started checking what was on Ebay. That's when I noticed that some of the 940's had engines with the distributor on the back driven off the camshaft and some had distributors on the side driven off the auxiliary shaft. These were all NA engines, not turbos. I had believed all 740/940 B230 engines had the distributors on the camshafts. My questions are:
1. Are some 940 engines the older style (distributor on the side) or has someone swapped in an older engine?
2. If both distributor arrangements were used, is one arrangement better than the other?
Thanks for helping clear up my somewhat confused brain.

Mostly found on the 93-94 models, the side mount distributor has the benefit of having a cap and rotor set that costs about 1/3 as much as the rear-mount distributor. Benefits extend to not having to re-seal the distributor shaft and base, but aside from that, the differences are few. There is no performance difference. Obviously the side mount distributors have the 240-type plug in the back of the head rather than the 740 type distributor.

Rex I systems have both side and rear mount distributors. I Don't know about Bosch ignition systems.



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Chris Herbst, near Chicago.

Thanks for the reply. I had thought maybe they had put a balance shaft in the auxiliary shaft location when the distributor was moved to the rear.

The auxiliary shaft still drives the oil pump in these cars. The auxiliary shaft is not machined for the distributor drive gear in the 740/940 with cam driven distributor.

They vary. They also vary according to Regina or Bosch fuel injection systems. In any event, they are equivalent in performance and reliability: there is no better or worse.

Thanks, that simplifies things.