[T3] Valve Settings/Distributor Drive Gear

Jim Adney jadney at vwtype3.org
Sun May 5 13:37:02 PDT 2013


On 4 May 2013 at 18:13, Chris Sheridan wrote:

> The Technique:
> 1) Remove distributor cap
> 2) Remove both valve covers
> 3) Rotate the engine while holding a small mirror to watch the #3 tappets
> 4) After a couple of cycles you will see a point where the #3 Intake valve
> tappet is closing just as the #3 exhaust tappet is opening.There is a
> precise point where the tappet heads are aligned as they travel in
> different directions. The point at which
> you can hold a imaginary level across both tappet heads, the point where
> the intake has barely closed and the exhaust has barely opened is where you
> stop turning.
> 5) This method insures that you are at Top Dead Center for #1
> 6) After setting and checking the valves for #1 you can then turn the
> engine counterclockwise about 90 degrees turn of the rotor but this time
> using your mirror to find the sweet spot on the #4 tappets, to determine
> tdc for #2, and so on.

Okay, this works. I think it's harder than the other way, but it 
works. And you don't explicitly mention it, but I can see that you're 
rotating the engine backwards while you do this, which is especially 
important if the distributor is out of the case.

It may help to keep in mind that there's never any problem putting 
the 1 & 3 pistons at the top of their stroke. That will always be the 
case when the timing marks on the pulley are at the top. 2 & 4 will 
always be at the top of their strokes when the timing marks are at 
the bottom. This will always be true, unless someone left the 
Woodruff key out of the crankshaft when they were assembling the 
engine.

The hard part comes when you want to tell the difference between TDC 
#1 and TDC #3. Your method, and Muir's method, both make this really 
clear.

Thanks for the full explanation.

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




More information about the type3-vwtype3.org mailing list