[T3] Bad day at the (FI) office

Daniel Nohejl d.nohejl at gmail.com
Tue Mar 29 16:15:23 PDT 2016


>  I recommend getting a 13 mm tube wrench. (A 
> tube wrench is like the one that came with your Square: the one for 
> the spark plugs and lug bolts.) I can give you a reference if you 
> can't find one in Brooklyn. Shouldn't be expensive.

My technique to date has been to use a deep well 13mm socket (for 3/8” ratchet as the connector end will fit through) for the initial tightening and then curse a lot while trying to get the last turn or two with whichever end of a combination wrench will co-operate with me. I do the reverse for removal. That tube wrench sounds like a beautiful thing. I barely see any available online (flare end “tubing" wrenches come up a lot) and the shops near me would be extremely unlikely to have such a thing. If you can recommend one, I’m all ears!

> Yes, that sounds quite a bit better. What resistor was this with? 
> What setting for the MPS: \  |  /  ?
> 
> What kind of driving and at what speed?

This was still with the 100 ohm resistor. I don’t have a mental image of the screw position of the MPS. Long story, but we did the adjustment in haste parked in front of a fire hydrant on Madison Ave and we were moving quickly. Overall, it was highway driving at 70 mph and backroads with lots of hills at speeds between 40 and 55 depending. 

In general, the driving experience is improved. The idle still seems a bit unsteady though and I have to get back there and see what’s up with the dwell, timing, vac leaks, etc. Honestly, it seems like we’re close to something and that the timing being off and the MPS being too lean was what was giving us grief. 


> I actually never set the points with a feeler gauge; I just use the 
> dwell meter. That is a pain, because you have to put everything back 
> together to check your work, because the dwell reading you get when 
> running is different from the one you get while cranking with the 
> starter. Nevertheless, the dwell meter gets the final say.
> 
> The tit on the points actually causes no problem at all, other than 
> interfering with a feeler gauge. It's not a problem, because opposite 
> the tit is an exactly matching divot in the facing contact.

We’re still using a black OE Bosch coil. 

Usually, we just do the initial setting of the points with the feeler gauge and then the dwell meter will tell us if we’re have to open or close the gap. However, Jessica has uncanny good luck with getting new points between 46* and 48* on the first try! I understand that on some other non-VW cars, it’s possible to set the dwell while the motor is running. That would have been a nice…..




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