[T3] Dizzy drive gear...

Jim Adney jadney at vwtype3.org
Sat Apr 13 05:52:59 PDT 2013


Removing the distributor drive gear used to work me into a cold 
sweat, because of the thought of dropping one of those washers down 
into the engine. Russ's experience with them has made me feel much 
more comfortable, but I'm still very careful when I do this. I 
suspect it's most likely to work best when the oil is warm and less 
likely to be "sticky."

After thinking about this some more, I thought the 2 statements below 
could use some clarification.  

On 12 Apr 2013 at 21:20, Jim Adney wrote:

> The most common outcome is that the 2 washers remain in place on the 
> shelf where they belong. While there's always the possibility of 
> falling into the engine, I was reassured by Russ that out of all the 
> hundreds of engines where he had done this, he had never had one of 
> those washers come up with the drive gear or fall down into the 
> engine.

The OD of the shim washers is larger than what can pass up past the 
brass drive gear on the crankshaft. This makes it impossible for them 
to come up with the distributor drive gear. If they stick to the 
drive gear, they will hit the crank gear teeth and jam or be knocked 
off. To my knowledge this has never happened to me, althought it's 
possible that they fell off and then back into place.

> I should add, that if this is a carbed engine, with a mechanically 
> driven fuel pump, you MUST remove the fuel pump, the pump pushrod, 
> and then the pushrod guide, IN THAT ORDER. Do not try to pull them 
> all out together.

Here's why: The pushrod guide holds the pushrod in alignment with the 
fuel pump cam on the distributor drive gear. If you pull out the 
plastic guide with the pushrod still in place, the guide will come 
up, but the pushrod will stay there, until the guide is out. Once the 
guide is out, the pushrod can slip sideways and it WILL drop down 
into the engine.

You will probably have to take the engine apart to get the pushrod 
out.

-- 
*******************************
Jim Adney, jadney at vwtype3.org
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
*******************************




More information about the type3-vwtype3.org mailing list