<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></head><body><div><font face="sans-serif">Glad to hear you got it straightened out. these trips are always an adventure.</font></div><div><font face="sans-serif"><br></font></div><div><font face="sans-serif">We are doing a Mammoth Cave tour in the morning from 9 to 11. Should be on the road by noon. Will give Melissa a call when we head out. Will figure or a place to meet up south of Nashville. </font></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div id="composer_signature"><div style="font-size:85%;color:#575757" dir="auto">Sent from my T-Mobile 4G LTE Device</div></div><div><br></div><div style="font-size:100%;color:#000000"><!-- originalMessage --><div>-------- Original message --------</div><div>From: Jim Adney <jadney@vwtype3.org> </div><div>Date: 6/13/18 11:29 PM (GMT-06:00) </div><div>To: type3@vwtype3.org </div><div>Subject: [T3] Parked in Paducah </div><div><br></div></div>Our "caravan" started out this morning, leaving Madison, WI at 8 AM. <br>We met up with Gary & Bev Forsmo just south of Janesville about 45 <br>minutes late and drove with them to just south of the IL state line. <br>They turned back and later reported that they put in 130+ <br>trouble-free miles, but were glad to be home since Gary's back is <br>still bothering him.<br><br>We met Joe Plowick in Urbana, IL at about 12:30, sold him a wheel and <br>had lunch together. We continued on.<br><br>Illinois is a LONG state. If we made it to KY, we'd be more than <br>halfway to 'Bama. That was the plan. Driving 65/70/75.<br><br>Ever have one of those moments when you wonder if that was a miss, or <br>was that just some brief, odd road vibration. Hmmm, then it seems <br>fine. Then it seems like it happens when I slow down a bit, so I try <br>to hold it at 75. I keep thinking, "This isn't real, " but those <br>hopes get dashed when Melissa asks, "Is something wrong with the <br>engine?"<br><br>Well, it's mostly okay, but it really isn't. I tell her it must be <br>shorting contacts in the Throttle Position Switch, but that seems <br>unlikely, because although the switches are similar, I've only ever <br>seen that problem in the '72-3 TPS. This is a '71. Hmmm....<br><br>We enter Kentucky and Paducah is just ahead. I nurse it to a KY <br>welcome center, but get caught by this one being one of those where <br>you have to exit I-24 and drive a couple blocks in town. Normally <br>just an annoyance, today, worse than that. At the first stoplight it <br>dies. I can restart it, but it needs pedal to keep it going. Do I <br>have 3 cylinders or just 2?<br><br>Spent some time in the welcome center; it was air conditioned. <br>Outside, it seems like it's raining upwards. The dew point is so high <br>it seems like dew condenses in our lungs when we breath in. Our GPS <br>finds a Best Western about 4.5 miles ahead. Melissa has a BW points <br>card. The car runs better at higher speeds, but these are highway <br>miles, so we make it. I nurse the car around the building and park <br>outside the room Melissa gets for us.<br><br>We are also virtually out of gas, but there's a BP right next door. I <br>lurch over there and fill up, partly in the hope that this will fix <br>everything. It doesn't.<br><br>Car is parked and I want it to cool down so I can check the valves. I <br>really don't want to drive it anywhere like this anyway. No <br>restaurants nearby, so BP sarah wrap sandwiches it is. So far, I'm <br>not putting on weight on this trip.<br><br>After "dinner" I unpack the car and start the process. The engine is <br>still pretty hot, but I figure I can still see a valve problem if <br>there is one. Good news: no valves have gone tight, there's some lash <br>still in each one, but #3 and #4 exhausts are less than .006. I fix <br>them. All the others are .004 intake/.006 exhaust. Seems pretty good.<br><br>Okay, get Melissa to start the engine and keep it running while I <br>check the dwell & timing. (I KNOW the dwell will be high!) It's not; <br>it's perfect at 45 deg. Timing is also right on. Damn!<br><br>Pull out SP wires one at a time and it seems like #3 isn't <br>contributing anything. That's not good. Run around the 4 SP wires <br>with the timing light inductive pickup and it flashes on 1 & 2, but <br>not on 3 & 4. Ah-HAH! Go back to 1 and no flashes there either. And <br>yet the engine is running, sort of. This was a 2nd timing light I <br>brought to sell. I'd tested it earlier and it worked. Apparently it's <br>intermittent and needs work before it's saleable. <br><br>Get my own timing light: It flashes on all 4 SP wires. Okay, ignition <br>good.<br><br>Get out the Bosch D-jet tester. Run thru all the resistance tests and <br>the injector tests. Everything looks good. Check the trigger points <br>while cranking with the starter: looks good.<br><br>I'm about to cave when I realize that I can also check the trigger <br>points with the engine running, sort of a trigger point dwell test. I <br>have to connect the brain and get Melissa back into the driver's <br>seat. She starts the engine and keeps it going, while I run the test.<br><br>One trigger point looks okay, the other one is WAY off. Now THAT's <br>something I can fix. I have my setting jig. Pull the distributor, <br>pull out the trigger points and check them with the jig. They are way <br>off. I've probably never gone thru this distributor, or if I did, it <br>was before I figured out how to make my fixture.<br><br>With the trigger points reset, distributor back in and timed, the <br>engine now runs on all 4. I THINK we're set for tomorrow.<br><br>When we get to Scottsboro, I'll pull the distributor again and get <br>some grease from someone. I didn't have any here, but I don't think <br>that will matter for one more days drive.<br><br>See you all tomorrow evening. Pleasant driving everyone. If the <br>timing works out, we may join up with John, Jill, and Scott somewhere <br>around Nashville tomorrow.<br><br>Sorry for the long post; hope you enjoyed it. ;-)<br><br>-- <br>*******************************<br>Jim Adney, jadney@vwtype3.org<br>Madison, Wisconsin, USA<br>*******************************<br><br>_______________________________________________<br>VWType3.Org mailing list - type3@vwtype3.org<br>To unsubscribe or change subscription options, visit:<br>http://lists.vwtype3.org/listinfo.cgi/type3-vwtype3.org<br>If you need more help, contact: gregm@vwtype3.org<br><br></body></html>