Date:         Fri, 12 Jul 1996 22:24:53 -0400
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         BUDWIL@aol.com
Subject:      '71 Westy won't start

Greetings from sunny southern Cal.  I just bought my first bus last week
(much thanks to Rusty Van Bondo for his insight).  I'm a rookie mechanic but
somewhat mechanically inclined so I bought a rebuilt engine and installed it
myself.

The rebuilt engine is installed but now I can't get the bus to start.  I know
my timing is off because I'm such a rookie I was trying to gap the cam
follower rather than the contact points.  But I'll fix that tomorrow morning
and try from there.

Aside from my obvious timing problem.  Are there areas my repair manual and I
don't know about?   I bought a "Haynes" manual to help me along.  It's been
helpful but I could use more pictures, detail, etc.  I've gone through the
starting trouble shooting portions and have verified I'm getting current from
my coil and when my cam follower is against the cam when turning the
ignition, I do get spark from coil to center distributor and also from
distributor to spark plugs.  Also, I checked my fuel pump and that's working
too.  It's turning over strong but the motor won't crank.

Please e-mail me with your suggestions and help this poor rookie get the
Westy back on the road where it belongs.

Budd K. Willis in Riverside

'71 Westy