LEAKOIL Forum

Yes, thanks Bill & Ken. Josh and I talked about "polarizing" via pm's this morning. We LEAKOILERS can sometimes be "polarizing", so we're probably right at home with that procedure! http://www.nls.net/mp/volks/htm/gen.htm

Also, thanks to Bill for digging out some parts so I could "re-tool" my original vacuum advance distributor for the 40 horse. Bill had an original rotor and a set of points for the distributor and Dale at Dale's VW is getting me a replacement condenser tomorrow. I've got a ton of old NOS caps, so I ought to be able to go back to the stock set up. From the reading I've done, I'm discovering the '65 40 horse had a vacuum only distributor. http://www.oldvolkshome.com/ignition.htm#A1965 Should be set at 10 degrees BTDC

I went through the vales tonight. No big adjustments needed. I did have some binding between the adjustment screws and nuts on the rocker arms, but I think my real problems with performance are related to the distributor.

Family commitment tomorrow, so I wont get back to it till Wednesday.

Ok, back at it tonight with Josh again coming by to lend his growing expertise. Before Josh got here I pulled the 009 and rebuilt the "innards" of the original vacuum "shorty" distributor. Also I redid all the fuel lines since the stuff I got from the Porsche dealer in North Olmsted was already starting to fray. Looks like it was high end 5mm stuff, but the black cloth braiding was coming off the rubber and kind of scaring me. I went back to the cloth VW stuff.

So the engine didn't run. The cap was bad and it's some kind of "one year or so only" cap. Eventually we did a little modification to run it with only the vacuum distributor. Turns out it wasn't advancing just staying at 10 degrees BTDC when we tried to dial it in. Don't know what's up 'cause the suction test worked. It really didn't matter since it was really the carb that was the problem. Josh kept saying carb and I kept saying distributor, but in the end he was right. He figured the carb was the one thing that "changed" since the rebuild, so it had to be that. On the other hand, I'm older and wiser and believe everything with a VW is broken until its proven to work, so I took the other approach.

Anyway, Josh came prepared. First he put the SVDA from aircooled.net he got for his '71 bus on my motor and we went for a ride. Better, but still problems. It's not the disitributor announces Josh. So I say the carb won't help any and it's still the distributor! So along with the SVDA Josh throws on his working 28 PCI. Even without vacuum this engine just purrrs. Great acceleration, no flat spot, power galore and a smooth ride. So now even I'm thinking CARB! I dig into my stash and find two old 28 PCI's with a few old rebuild kits. Josh and I started laughing when we saw one was marked $1.40. They are selling now on WW for $24.99.

So we pick what we think is the better of the two carbs, it wasn't! We do a driveway rebuild with California Quality and we get more hesitation and heat. Off that one comes. On goes the other one. Better, but still issues. Crud was floating around like no tomorrow! Oh and I forgot we bolted the second one up only to discover it had no upper gasket and no float bowl! Oh yea, that ran like a champ!

So we did the driveway rebuild, "part two", and this one seems to have some promise, but still showing problems. The jets need to be cleaned because I bet they're clogged. Josh knows they're clogged! We drove it around the block, but were getting hungry and thristy so we had to head up to Panini's.

Before we finished up we did the Generator ploarization test. Seems we got it right and the generator spun, but the red light is still on. We did a test at the battery. 6.2 volts accros the terminals when the engine was off. It did not go up with the engine running at higher RPM's, so it may be we have a bad generator. Unless someone thinks it's something else????

All in all we had a great time doing the forensics!

Tomorrow is another day!

Quick update. I pulled off the solex 28 PCI. I took both 28 PCI's I have down to Dale's, disassembled them, and put them in his tank to soak. While there, Dale went through a few old distributors he had and found a decent Bosch 019 that was complete. The 019's were replacements for the 010's and are a mechanical advance distributor that many claim are superior to the 009's. (I wouldn't know.) Dale also gave me a couple of old vacuum advance distributors. I checked the numbers and they were used on 40 horse engines in the early 1960's so they may just work. We'll see. I took them home and I'm cleaning them up. This is a fun adventure and at least I'm learning the relationship between distributor and carb. It's kind of like a marriage!

If you're wondering what distributor or 'set up" was originally on your ACVW, you can check it out here: http://www.oldvolkshome.com/ignition.htm

We should probably save this link on the site somewhere for future reference.

Spent a little more time on it after work today and I finally got it running at an acceptable level. Still need to dial it in, but it's much, much better. I've learned more about distributors, points, rotors, caps and condensers, as well as early carbs, than I ever thought I would know or need to know. They're a lot more combinations out there than folks like me realize!

I got the 019 installed today after Dale was able to locate a correct cap, rotor and condenser. 50 year old cast iron distributors "rock"! I think the reason I had problems with the 019 earlier is the points were grounding out on the distributor body because the metal clip for the condenser wire was touching the plate. Also, the + wire to the coil was really frayed and I think the juice was lacking!

I've got a good vacuum only distributor all worked up now as well if I want to go to that. (A "205M" for you distributor junkies.)

I took apart the original 28 PICT-1 carb and redid everything to be sure it was ok. Blocked the vacuum port. It ran much better. I still have the electric (6V) choke disconnected. Not much good in June anyway!

Still have an ever so slight flat spot on acceleration, but it's barely noticable. I only static timed it at 10 BTDC, so it may improve when I can kick it up to full advance with a strobe light. Dwell came in at 44 so I still have to fix that as well. I really haven't dialed the carb in yet anyway. Not sure if it's running hot, but I'll be able to tell soon enough.

Still have to fix that pesky generator light, but that's all part of the fun!

Many thanks to Josh for his help and to all you folks for your encouragement. It's great to have a Beetle (with power) to drive as a change up to a bus!

Nice work, Sean. Your persistance has paid off as most of the time it does. You have also set a good example for some of the newbies/novices who want to learn how to work on their busses. All it takes is desire, time, patience and ofcourse advice from some the more experienced LEAKOILER's. It's been fun to watch this story unfold.

Dialed it in a little more last night. Got the meter on it and got the dwell close. Hovering at about 48.

Got the RPM's steady at around 825.

Put a new return spring/tube on to help acceleration/return.

Got rid of that annoying "high idle" with the adjustment screw and the cam by adding a spring! (Yee Haw!)


Going to mess with the generator/VR today and replace them if I can't figure it out.

Hey Sean, a lot of your flat spot issues could be coming from the fact that the charging system isn't charging. I'd fix that first before driving yourself bonkers on other issues. Full electrical power can solve lots of sins , esp. on a 6v car!

Plus, on the 36hp engines, Buses got mechanical distributors and Beetles got vacuum, and Buses were timed 2,5 degrees more advanced than Beetles on the 36; e.g. 7,5 BTDC for the Beetle, 10 before for the Bus.. I don't know if any of that carried through to the early 40 or not. But that carb was designed to work with a vac advance, or it wouldn't have the port. If you run a mechanical advance, you always run the risk of a "flat spot" that you need to learn how to accelerate through.

Also, I've always had the best luck on early engines just timing it statically to the mark, even on the rare occasion that I've had to sub the horrid 009 as a temp to replace a wonky OE distributor until I could overhaul it. In my opinion, stroboscopic lights on any engine built before 1967 cause more problems than they're worth, unless VW supplied specific instructions to use the stroboscopic.

Keep in mind: This info is all applicable for stock engines. As far as building bigger engines, my opinion has always been "if you really want a Porsche, just go buy one!"

Tram wrote: Keep in mind: This info is all applicable for stock engines. As far as building bigger engines, my opinion has always been "if you really want a Porsche, just go buy one!"

Yeah Berea Bob!

Tram, thanks for weighing in with some quality advice. I think you're "spot on" on "fix the electrical first" and "go back to a vacuum distributor" second. I love this 019, but I think it's really meant for an early 40HP bus motor. I'm told the 019's were replacements for the 010's.

I must have 10 early vacuum distributors. All of them have problems. I either have "cans" that don't hold vacuum or I'm missing some crazy one or two year only rotor/cap set up (shorty) or the condenser set up is wrong, blah, blah, blah! Many of these early 60's beetle distributors were surprisingly "vacuum only" . That makes it tough to "advance when the "can" is bad!

Eventually I'll get it together. I got a little busy with the family today, but tomorow is Father's day. And we all know what "Father's Day" is don't we? Yes, it's the day we work on our distributors and generators without interruption!

I'll post back the resolution. Perhaps I'll end up with Berea Bob's SVDA! (Just kidding Bob! )

Sean, I'm fairly sure I have a few good vac cans. I'll do some digging and if I do I can send you one.