[T3] Setting the Valves

[Jim Adney]

On 2 May 2013 at 14:44, Chris Sheridan wrote:

> 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?
> 
> The technique that John Muir outlines in his book:
> If you want to find Top Dead Center for #1, you watch the #3 Valves.
> If you want to find Top Dead Center for # 3, you watch the #1 Valves.
> If you want to find Top Dead Center for # 4, you watch the #2 Valves.
> If you want to find Top Dead Center for # 2, you watch the #4 Valves
> I've used this technique for 25 years with no issues.

You can certainly do that, IF you understand what you're looking for. 
You would have to be looking for the fact that one valve is OPEN, 
hence this must NOT be the TDC for that piston, so it MUST be TDC for 
the other one. It's a process of elimination, rather than 
confirmation. I think the method I use, which is what Robert Rogers 
suggested, is more direct and therefore less confusing.

I love the karma of Muir's book, but I never get the impression that 
he likes Type 3s all that much and that he doesn't know them nearly 
as well as he knows bugs and busses.

I looked thru my copy of his book, to see if I could find the method 
you mention. My copy is a 1979 revised edition, and in the section 
where he describes how to set the dist drive gear (Ch. XV, Step 9 & 
10) he only refers to looking at the #1 intake valve. Did you find 
your alternate method in a different section? If so, where? I'd like 
to read it in context.

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