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On 5 Jun 2003 at 7:26, Chris J Valade wrote: > Alright, so you're all right, that wire had nothing to do with my > car starting or not...but the horn works now! When I was seeing if it > would work I heard some weird noise, was confused for a moment, then > realized it was the horn...all I'm going to say about that: fucking > adorable, it fits the Squareback's smiling appearance. Even when new the horn was "small." Most of us like it this way. Besides I think a horn is pretty useless: If I ever have to use it, it means that I've failed to read a situation correctly and let myself get into a position where I should not be. > I've gotten into the habit of disconnecting the battery since there is a > short in the car (I believe its the CD player since although its not visibly > on when the car is off, you can here it turn on when the battery is > reconnected...I'll get around to fixing the short eventually), and I > sometimes forget to reconnect it, although I usually figure it out pretty > quick, perhaps that time I didn't=\ Many of these items have 2 power leads. One needs to get power all the time, just so the clock doesn't stop. This one draws insignificant power. The other power lead should be connected to a terminal that only gets power when the key is on. If you don't have a clock then there is probably just 1 wire that is probably just connected to a terminal which is hot all the time. It just needs to be moved. > Anyhow I've got a 1970 Squareback, 12V, Electronic FI, AT > That mechanic friend of mine I've mentioned knows someone who he > works with and has been buddies with that is, or so I am told, a VW buff > and has rebuilt, soupped up, etc. all sorts of VWs, including Squarebacks > and other type 3s. I'm quite suspect of him since what he has said about > the coil has been contradicted by more than one person on this list: Doesn't sound too good. > 1) I should get a performance coil since it will increase the performance of > my car; Any coil that lights the cylinder every time is fine. You can't do any better than that. 2) there is a resistor in the coil itself so that 12V go in, > but 6V should come out (not only have listees contradicted this, but it > doesn't make sense to me). Should I trust a word this guy says? The coil always has full system voltage (12-14V in your case) on one side and either zero or full voltage on the other side (depending on whether the points are open or closed. There's no place that will give you half voltage. There's no "resistor" built into the VW coil, BUT it IS wound with smaller wire that is the equivalent of adding a resistor. You CAN think of it this way, but that's not actually how it is done. > As regards coils though, I have some questions: What is the difference > between blue, black, and red Bosch coils? Steven recommended stock black or > blue, but so far as I was aware (my knowledge on this is very limited and new > found) a Bosch black is a high performance coil, not stock....? Bosch makes LOTS of different coils. Stock coils are black, HP coils are blue, special coils for electronic ignitions are red. The black OE coil is excellent quality and that's what I recommend. If you plan to do a lot of very high RPM driving the correct blue coil might be preferred, but you should know that the FI will only work up to around 5000 RPM and the black coil is fine well above this number. > I checked the rotor and it does advance somewhere around 15 degrees and then > spring back...could be more, could be less, its hard to tell. I checked and > there is no felt pad that I could see, just a metal flat head then some more > metal further down to its sides. Could someone tell me what sort of dizzy > I've got? The part number is: 311 905 205 A-B. Where can I find a good > resource regarding part numbers? Sounds like this is the right dist for your engine and that the mech advance is working correctly. You should put a drop of engine oil down the top of the dist shaft and try to find a replacement for the missing felt plug. This is a good junkyard item from any Bosch dist of this era. The Bentley manual lists the dist numbers in the engine section. > I believe I found the number (it was on the right side of the crankcase, > under the manifold--I'm pretty sure its the manifold--just near the crack) > and I think its: T0875802. That would mean that this rebuilt engine was built up from a '71 dual carb case, probably imported as a core engine from europe. There used to be several companies in CA that would do this and then part out the engines. I've use just such a case to rebuild an engine with a destroyed case. This is probably a good case. > I believe the fan belt is too lose since it has about 1/2" of > play, maybe more, and when I turn the generator pulley, the fan belt > moves with it, but doesn't turn the crankshaft. Should I tighten it? No, this sounds perfectly normal. If you want to turn the engine over, you will have to push down slightly on the belt while you turn the generator. This is easy and normal. > Jim--the oil was coming out of the intake valve for #1, it is > because the car is parked on a downgrade. Its irritating since I changed > the gasket on that valve cover (I'm going to do the other when I actually > open it up, and when it is on a level surface) but the gasket glue > wouldn't adhere since the oil was still coming out, although at a much > slower pace. With no other option I did the best I could with the gasket > and put the cover back on, now it drips a small puddle daily=\ It's the valve cover gasket that is leaking, not the intake valve. ;-) There are a couple of "secrets" to getting these to seal properly. Make sure the sealing surface is perfectly clean. Run a fingertip all around it and carefully scrape off any raised dirt that is sticking to it. Use good gaskets. There are cheap gaskets out there which are too thin, so the spring bail can't exert enough pressure to make them seal. The good gaskets are pretty much black impregnated cork. The all tan cork ones are too thin and often undersized. You can glue the gasket to the cover, but NEVER glue the gasket to the head. This can make it almost impossible to get the cover off the next time. Pull the spring bails off DOWNWARD. If they have ever been forced off upward then they may have been deformed and they won't seal again until they are replaced or restored to shape. They are quite tough to reshape. I can do it, but I have a good vise and some special tools that help a lot. > A few other things: I was checking some things, and before I > realized what I was doing I had adjusted the idle who knows how many > turns, so is it better to have the idle too high or too low in getting > the engine started so I can then adjust it correctly? As far as starting goes, it really doesn't matter where it is set. You will want to give it a little gas by foot and this overrides the idle setting. > I always noticed this tube that was disconnected and strapped down hanging > out the bottom of the engine, and I finally realized what it was: it is the > hose from the crankcase breather that should be connected to the air > cleaner...should I reconnect this? Also, it looks like oil has been leaking > out of it If yes, what size hose do I need (I know this is not the proper > size hose right now, its bigger and red), 7mm? If that hose comes out the RR corner of the breather, then it was originally a black hose that ran to the air cleaner. If it come out the bottom of the breather then you have a 72-3 setup and it should go elsewhere. Since the engine has been rebuilt the correct place for this may not exist. Which do you have? This may need attention. > The push-rod tube for the #1 intake has a slight dink in it, do I need to > replace this ASAP? No, if it's just a little dent, just leave it alone. If it's a big dent that the pushrod actually touches and has worn thru it will have to be replaced. If it wears thru you will know about it right away as it will be a large oil leak. > There is oil dripping, although not a lot, from pretty much the entire > engine, but mainly from the bolts/screws/whatever holding the crankcase > together on the bottom, does this mean anything? Do I just need to tighten > them? There is also oil dripping from both the oil pressure control and > relief valves--do I just tighten these too? Then there is some oil from left > of the crankcase, or at least I believe it isn't the crankcase and instead > something above, but I haven't really explored yet to find out. You can check the tightness of all the bolts/nuts on the bottom of the engine. They are only 13 ft-lbs, though, so don't overtighten. The 6 little cap nuts on the oil sump should be tightened even less, and with much more care. Oil leaks are hard to track down, because no matter where they are, the oil ends up on the bottom. I'd start by tightening things gently and see if that helps. I'm concerned about your breather issue above, which could lead to oil leak problems. > I knew there was a problem when the previous owner said to me "Don't worry > about the oil light, it always turns on when you are on the freeway", sigh. Hmmm, the oil light should NEVER come on while driving at speed, but it is fairly common for it to come on when the engine drops back to idle after getting hot on the freeway. > I've had to put off work on the engine for a lack of cash, but > tomorrow is payday for me--it seems that although this lil boy doesn't > guzzle gas, it does guzzle my cash reserve. Its okay though, I got the > car for $1500, so as far as I'm concerned I'm just increasing its value=) Sounds like you have the right idea. ;-) -- Jim Adney jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711-3054 USA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org