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On 5 Aug 98, at 11:12, oofacts@earthlink.net wrote: > J. Adney wrote: > <<There are two possibilities. The most likely one is that the person > who built your engine was familiar with beetles and installed the > distributor drive gear in the beetle (wrong for type 3) position. > You can verify this by pulling off the right valve cover and turning > the engine by hand until BOTH #1 valves are open AND the TDC mark on > the fan pulley is up. THEN pull the distributor and look at the > orientation of the drive gear notch--compart it with the picture in > the Bentley manual. If this is your problem, correcting it is not a > job for a novice or the faint-hearted. One slip can mean complete > disassembly of the engine.>> > > Its that washer at the bottom of the distributor, right? I've been reading > about that coat hanger trick and I don't like the sound of it. That's the one. The coat hanger trick is the easy part. The scary part is getting the washers out without dropping them inside the engine. I have done this successfully several times, but I'm still waiting for the time I fail. > <<The second possibility is that someone has disassembled your > distributor and reassembled it incorrectly. This is an easy mistake > to make, and will result in a 180 degree error. I can fix this > easily, but if you are not familiar with the Bosch distributor you > are likely to do more harm than good.>> > > In this case, what do I do? Pull out the distributor and mail it to you? > What is the effect of 180 degree error? If you have the skills and tools to retime the engine afterwards, I can tell you what to look for to check the distributor, but if it is wrong, I suggest you ship it to me so I can rebuild it and put it back together correctly. The exploded view in the Bentley manual also shows it correctly. > <<Pinging is a bad sign. It can cause real mechanical damage to your > engine. See if higher octane gas will correct it. If so, it means > that your compression ratio is too high for the gas you are using.>> > > Only problem there is, I'm using the higest octane available. I only buy > the good stuff. > What else could it be? Muir says maybe timing; is that true? What octane are you using? What is your compression ratio? What are you setting the timing to? I strongly recommend that you set the timing with a timing light to the factory specs. Jim - ******************************* Jim Adney, jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, Wisconsin, USA ******************************* ------------------------------------------------------------------- Search old messages on the Web! Visit http://www.vwtype3.org/list/