Date:         Fri, 6 Jan 1995 20:16:16 -0800 (PST)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         dworkin <dworkin@netcom.com>
Subject:      Re: VW-TIMING ON A '71 BUS


On Fri, 6 Jan 1995, Nick Pace wrote:

> I've got a '71 bus with about 90k miles on a GTX rebuild (about 240k miles
> overall).  It's a CA model and uses a 34 PICT with a vacc. retard &
> advance distributor.  I've traditionally set the timing to 0 TDC using a
> timing strobe and all vacc. lines attached at 850 RPM and around 48
> degrees of dwell (gas is always Shell Super Unleaded).  

The book (Bentley) says 42-58 degrees dwell with used points so you are
good there, but it says 5 degrees AFTER TDC for timing at 800-900 RPM.
Dave Kautz is right, TDC is already a touch "hot".  +10 degrees and you
will probably toast your engine.  I think his idea of checking the advance
over its entire range is a good one.  The Bentley manual gives advances at
3 RPM points for the later distributors.  If you don't have this book (and
who among us can live without it?) post the part # off your distributor
and I (or someone) will be happy to type in the specs for yours. Without
doing a rebuild, about the only thing you can do to get more power is to
keep it on spec.  Especially important is to keep your valves adjusted. 
I always felt like I had an extra cylinder right after I brought my 
valves into spec.

> I bring all of
> this up because my other mode of transportation is a '78 Fiat 124
> convertible (the Fiat and the Bus are alternately known as the "Dream
> Team" or the "Scream Team") and I was advised recently to advance the
> timing in the Fiat 10 degrees more than the factory manual states in order
> to make it run smoother.  

By a shop that sells rebuilt engines, no doubt? ;-)=

> The theory was that the engine was old (160k
> miles and never a rebuild on that one though I did replace the heads
> recently) and with its age one could, and should, advance the timing as
> much as the engine would take without pinging under load.  Don't know much
> about the theory behind it (we only do social science -the ultimate
> oxymoron- research here at RAND) but I do know that the Fiat does indeed
> run better with 10 degrees of advance.

Is that "better" as in faster or "better" as in longer?  I am not familiar
with Fiats (I have only been involved in 2 tranny changes on X/19's) and I
have heard that theory on timing, but we have always had good luck with
the factory specs. 

> 
> QUESTION: Should I also experiment with advancing the timing on the Bus?

No. Nyet. Nein.  Not 'til you have read St. John of Muir cover to cover.  
Too much advance on VW engines causes molten VW engines.  

Sorry to be so negative, but I have just put in a heck of a day trying to
add a 3.5" floppy and a hard disk to an IBM PC (the original model 5150),
and am real turned off at the momment towards trying to get machines to do
things that were not included in the original design. (anyone need a 
supply of 3.5" 360K floppies?) 

					H Steven Dolan
					dworkin@netcom.com