Itinerant Air-Cooled

So my bus is running with the new engine, but timing is way off and this looks wrong....there's no room to adjust the distributor and it appears the can is on the wrong side of the cold injector???



Comments? Thanks!

who built the engine ? Im guessin the vacuum can at odd angle due to incorrect alignment of the drive gear...or perhaps trying to achieve some mad advanced timing ? or maybe the dist. was assembled 180deg off at some past point. Actually, if the bus is running close to acceptable, that might be your best remedy: to reverse the dog at the base of dist. 180 deg.

A VW shop that's been around for a long time up here....I didn't really notice it until I put all the FI on and started hitting it with the light....it's somewhere up around 24 at a high idle (1600 rpm)....

That's when I noticed the can jammed in there.

So...loosen clamp, pull distributor, realign can to right side of cold start valve and go from that point? Essentially realigning it ninety degrees or so?

Thanks!

Suggestion....

Put the engine at TDC for #1 cylinder BEFORE you dink with the distributor. Make sure you are at TDC for #1 though, not #3. Confirm by checking the valves on #1.

Ok so confirm #1 TDC. Pull distributor. Line up rotor with notch, put distributor back in. Retime....

Just want to be sure what I'm thinking is correct.

You can't count on the notch in the distributor pointing to #1 cylinder, certainly not with your distributor clocked the way it is now. Even properly clocked distributors often don't have the notch in the right place, depending on where the distributor came from.

Yes, your can is on the wrong side of the CSV. You may be able to remedy this by rotating the distributor 90 degrees clockwise so that the vacuum can is on the other side of the CSV, then re-wiring your ignition leads in the distributor cap one location counter-clockwise to compensate for the new distributor orientation. Hopefully this will give you enough swing on the distributor to get your timing correct.

Here is how I make sure I am really at TDC for #1 cylinder.

Find the notch on the fan pulley as described here... and line it up with the timing scale

http://www.ratwell.com/technical/FindTimingMark.html



Note which spark plug wire is being pointed to by the rotor (ie #1). If you remove the right side valve cover and rotate the fan 2" on each side of "0" you will you will see the #1 cylinder valves not really moving much. #3 cylinder will be tapping back and forth. that will confirm that you are really at #1.

The notch on the distributor really means nothing. If you feel you need one, make one using some whiteout.

So here's a picture of the drive gear with #1 at TDC. With the can in the position of the last picture the rotor is aligned with the notch and the rotor is pointed to #1 plug. Now the book says this drive should be at a 12 degree angle to the case. Obviously way off if I want the distributor in the correct position for adjustment. So, do I have to remove the gear and reposition or just readjust where the "notch" in the distributor should be, rotate the distributor and ensure that the rotor is on #1...and thanks again guys!

Curtp07 wrote:So here's a picture of the drive gear with #1 at TDC. With the can in the position of the last picture the rotor is aligned with the notch and the rotor is pointed to #1 plug. Now the book says this drive should be at a 12 degree angle to the case. Obviously way off if I want the distributor in the correct position for adjustment. So, do I have to remove the gear and reposition or just readjust where the "notch" in the distributor should be, rotate the distributor and ensure that the rotor is on #1...and thanks again guys

You could do it either way that you mention. Reorienting the gear so that it matches factory spec would be the preferred method and will give you the most satisfaction, if you're comfortable doing so. Just be careful to not lose the thrust washer underneath the drive gear when you remove it.

Also, it's a bit hard to tell, but do you have a advance/retard vacuum can? It looks like you have two vacuum hoses going to it. The black cloth covered hose to the advance side and the red hose to the retard side. Or is the red hose for something else?

Oh, and I predict that rubber elbow you have in there for the brake booster vacuum take-off will give you no end of trouble. Those elbows are meant for the AAR and barely serve well under the light vacuum they see on that side. The aftermarket ones in particular fail with alarming regularity. When they fail in the AAR circuit they are simply an annoying source of stumbling. If it fails in the location you have there, then that's a massive vacuum leak.

Put the distributor in where the vacuum canister won't hit anything and where you will have some room to adjust the timing. Turn the distributor shaft so that it goes in correctly (actually it only goes in one way).

Put the rotor in and it will be pointing to where you want the #1 spark plug wire to be at. Firing order is 1-4-3-2 around the cap. Don't over think this.

Don't worry where the little #1 notch is on the distributor. If you want one, use a sharpie.

Time it correctly (hoses off) to 28º BTDC at about 3500 RPMs. Plug in the hoses correctly.



Go for a ride and report back your findings.

Yes it's a DVDA setup. I think I will go with reindexing the #1 to another position as I'm afraid of dropping the thrust washers. I'll just make a note of it with this engine and chalk this up to experience! Very soon I will be rebuilding my own type 4 for my SB!

Thanks everyone!

Relocating the distributor and reindexing #1 with appropriate placement of cap worked. Timing is good.

BUT...and I'm starting to get angry...the oil cooler air seal is missing...why didn't I look this over more carefully??? Trust but verify....

Can this be put in without dropping the engine?

Curtp07 wrote:BUT...and I'm starting to get angry...the oil cooler air seal is missing...why didn't I look this over more carefully??? Trust but verify....

Can this be put in without dropping the engine?

You can do quite a number of things to the engine without dropping it (including stripping it down to a short-block), but often it turns out that the extra contortions necessary to perform the job in-situ accumulate to be a larger hassle than dropping the engine would have been. Of course, one tends not to appreciate this until one is deep into the job.

Do you actually have a correct VW oil cooler air seal? They seem to be kinda rare. Some folks have made do with closed-cell foam.

Glad you got the timing worked out. Regarding your DVDA, have you checked to make sure both diaphragms are leak-free? The retard side is often broken on these.

I do have one. I have a few of these engines kicking around in various states. Including parts..

Curtp07 wrote: A) Trust but verify....

B) Can this be put in without dropping the engine?

a) This is the new world. They guy who coined the above phrase turns out to have been not so trustworthy himself.

Now it is Question-clarify, Double-check, Follow-through.

b) I would loosen all upper cylinder tin screws, remove those closest to the oil cooler duct, raise the oil cooler duct away from the oil cooler by 1/2 inch or less, and feed a longitudinally-sliced soft rubber vacuum hose onto the duct's edging around the perimeter of the cooler opening. If that turns out to be too hellacious, remove the intake manifold on the left side, remove the distributor, and pull the rear of the cylinder cover up enough to pull out the oil cooler duct so you can adhere a new seal to the perimeter.
Colin