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Date:         Mon, 13 Nov 95 17:57 CST
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         EF0JPB1@mvs.cso.niu.edu
Subject:      Minutiae: Timing

Fellow air-cooled heads:

Another gem from the archives of the VW Autoist, September, 1967 for those out there who may be *very* picky about their timing. Under the heading *Bug Dust* by Hank Weisner is the following:

<quote>For those of you who can't keep your cotton pickin hands out of the engine room, we would like to remind you that when timing a 1965 or later Bug, you will find that #3 cylinder is late firing while the other three seem to check out. Don't worry--it is supposed to be that way. The reason #3 cylinder is late firing as compared to the others is that in 1965 Volkswagen gave a special grind to the cam in the distributor to cause #3 to fire 2-1/2 degrees late. This was done to aid cooling of #3 cylinder which is farthest away from the fan.<unquote>

It does *not*, however, say whether this is true of bus engines as well. Frankly, I never considered timing anything more than cylinder #1, letting the rest just follow along. I *do* have to wonder why it took so long for VW to incorporate this idea in their engines.

Also, (though it says nothing about the involvement of the oil cooler in this problem) what is the impact of external oil cooler systems on this? IMHO, it is good reason not to install external oil coolers (unless you also change the cam to re-time cylinder #3 or you have a pre-65 engine).

Is there a moral here?

-Jim Bryant


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