What went wrong?, it was running great and then not at all Options

[Type 47]

so we put the original 62k engine back in that had not had the distributor removed. Adjusted the valves (again after we put about 10 miles on it) we rebuilt the Webbers and it fired up. We did some timing and tweaking on the carbs.

It ran OK but a little shy of perfect. I replaced the wires and it seemed to improve it but idled a little high around 1,200.

My son came over to work on it the next day, but I wasn't home. All of a sudden, it won't even run.

we swapped distributers (both 009's) with the parts car, then swapped points (adjusted to 0.016). no improvement.

tested spark to all four cylinders. I seems like it's really out of timing but we didn't change it much. (except for the fact that we took the distributor out)

my son says we have spark, too much fuel, and not enough air.

What do we do next?????

[ClayPerrine]

Just so you know, the 009 is a terrible distributor for a VW Type IV engine. The advance curve is completely wrong for it. IIRC, I don't think you can actually get 27 degrees at 3500 RPM with an 009 without having the base timing really off.


There are 4 things needed to make an internal combustion engine run, and they can be remembered with the acronym "FAST"

Fuel
Air
Spark
Timing


Fuel - you have that and you can adjust the carbs after it is running
Air - the engine is making compression
Spark - you verified that already
Timing - Start with that.

How I do it.
Take out the #1 spark plug. Put in the hose from a compression tester. Using a remote starter button, crank the engine over while keeping your thumb over the end of the compression tester hose. When it blows your thumb off the hose, you are on the compression stroke.

Now turn the engine until the 0 mark is in the timing marks in the fan housing. Make the rotor in the distributor point to the left front of the car. Reinstall the cap and put the wires on. The two plug wires on the right side of the motor connect to the two distributor towers on the right side. The two plug wires on the left side of the motor are crossed, i.e. the front spark plug connects to the rear distributor tower, and the rear spark plug connects to the front distributor tower.

Turn the motor until you have about 8 degrees advance on the timing marks. Then hook a test light to the points wire and hook the other end to the positive battery post. Turn the distributor back and forth until the light just goes out. That sets the static timing.

Hook the points lead back up to the coil and the car should start. You will need to make sure the carbs are properly synced at idle. Once you do that, you can then take the engine to 3500 RPM and check the timing is a 27 degrees.


I hope this helps.