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Date:         Mon, 21 Feb 2005 20:22:55 -0600
Reply-To:     Jim Felder <felder@KNOLOGY.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jim Felder <felder@KNOLOGY.NET>
Subject:      Re: Heads
In-Reply-To:  <000601c51882$d90a6780$6601a8c0@cbetest12>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed

Jere;

I had a problem with this too, but caught it early.

For one thing, if you managed to do the adjustment with one or more of the pushrods "hung" on the opening to the lifter, then it will snap (and maybe bend) down into its seat when the engine is turned over. Then the adjustment is way way off. This caused me to do one over, but I caught it before the engine started. All the pushrods, when ready to adjust, should stick out over the head by just a bit. Maybe 1/8 inch. Anything sticking out 3/8 inch or so is definitely not seated and must be before proceeding.

Secondly, do what the books suggest and back the screws in until they are flush with the arm. You'll have a lot less trouble this way.

Third, don't worry about the distributor position so much at getting it right at 180. This I did with a dowel in the spark plug hole, moving it around as needed. You can tell when it's right on the money by turning the crank with a wrench and feeling the stick go up and down, moving the wrench back and forth. It's easy. Forget about anything else. Make sure that the piston is TDC, find the two open valves, and adjust them. Take the dowel out, rotate about 190, find the next TDC and then get it exact with the dowel, repeat until done, making contact with the pushrod and then screwing in two turns. But never forget to take the dowel out. If you were to turn the crank and break the stick, you'll have to remove the head to get the pieces out.

Jim

On Feb 21, 2005, at 8:04 PM, Jere Hawn wrote:

> Thanks Jim, > > I wonder about my valve adjustment. The book and what I read from the > web > was confusing. It sound like there is only two positions to adjust > valve at > the mark on the distributor and 180 deg from that; which didn't make > sense > to me unless the VW engine has only two firing positions. So what I > did > was set the distributor to the mark on the distributor and watched the > valve > as I moved to that position. Then I did number 4 180 deg from that. > Then I > rotated the engine and watched the valves. When the would dwell in > the up > position I stopped, rolled the crank back and forth to find the center > of > the dwell (in the closed position) and then adjusted the valves. I > screwed > them down until I felt drag on the push rods (I was rotating them by > hand) > then I went for 2 full turns. Something tells me that won't work??? > > Jere > > -----Original Message----- > From: Jim Felder [mailto:felder@knology.net] > Sent: Monday, February 21, 2005 5:48 PM > To: Jere Hawn > Cc: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM > Subject: Re: Heads > >> The valves made a lot of noise and I have blue smoke. > > I can attest that this is normal and if you've done you're valve > adjustment correctly, the noise will go away. > >> She runs rough, very rough. > > Injectors hooked up correctly? > > All sensors hooked up correctly? > > Plug wires hooked up correctly? > > Grounds to the head REALLY good? > > I spent two days running down my bad running problems, which turned out > to be not where the pigtail plugs into the the afm, but where the > pigtail plugged into the original cable. Unplugging and plugging this > back in cleaned the connections and I've had no problem ever since. > > Jim >> >> >> >> Any suggestions? >> >> >> >> Jere >> > >


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