[T3] distributor drive gear success

[Jim Adney]

On 1 May 2013 at 11:31, ken2k wrote:

> yes, the key  bit of advice from chris was finding TDC by looking at
> the valves on #3 and finding (apparently) the exact sweet spot. all
> these years i thought TDC was the mark on the pulley. anyway, once i
> was in the right spot it literally fell off the drive gear puller and
> into position. i guess that means my valves have been off all of this
> time. maybe now it will run properly. kk 

Uhhh..., but you don't want #3 TDC, you want #1 TDC. If you set it to 
#3 TDC you will have to stuff the SP wires in the dist cap rotated by 
180 deg. Is this where you are, still?

You need to watch the #1 valves, then choose the TDC that comes up 
when both of THOSE valves are closed, then install the drive gear.

If you think about it, and perhaps draw yourself some pictures, 
you'll realize that, since this is a 4-cycle engine, each piston 
comes to TDC twice in the 4 cycles. Since we're working on the spark 
timing, we're only concerned about the TDC that occurs at the top of 
the compression stroke, not the one that occurs at the top of the 
exhaust stroke, but that zero degree mark comes by for each of those. 
The trick is to make sure you get the right one, and the right one is 
when both valves are closed.

BTW, none of this will affect when your valves open and close. It 
only controls spark timing. Valve timing is controlled by the gears 
that drive the camshaft from the crankshaft. Those can only be 
changed with the engine completely apart, so you have to hope they 
were set correctly when the engine was put together. (They almost 
always are.)

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