Finally got the van started this morning, as Paradox said, a good bit of petrol in the carb and eventually he fired up! Drive it about 20 miles today and it definitely needs some kind of a tune up as if I put my foot down too fast on the accelerator when pulling off it stalls so I have to slowly build the revs to about 3,000 before I can release the clutch! Anyone reccomend a good vw mechanic in sw London or is it a simple job to do myself (I've not worked with carbs before!)?
Air leak/points gap/timing. If you had to drive as described I wonder why you drove it? I wouldn't have.
Let me go back to the first post and see what you have done so far Normally if things dont work right after youve worked in that area then its somthing you have disturbed Zeds right with where to look first though id say
Had a misfire (now gone) and oils leaks from the flywheel seal/pushrods/sump cover I did have to fit the carb without a gasket so air might be leaking there, also I don't think the air filter has all the proper breather connections hooked up. I just read on vw resource that if the distributor has been changed from a vaccum to a 009 then there can be problems (mine is the 009 type I think)
Get a gasket fitted to the carb as your pulling in un accounted for air there Even if you make a gasket from a few slips of cereal packet or a cork floor tile Dont drive the bus anymore till youve cured that air leak
You were in too much of a hurry, which is understandable, but you do need a gasket for the carb really and to connect up the pipes, which form a dead end when connected so no air gets in. Does it tick over ok?
I'll get on that this week. It ticks over fine when warm but when cold it struggles to fire but then it settles after a few minutes.
Any merit in looking to change the distributor? I want to also check the valve clearences and timing but finding TDC and messing with the settings scares me!
So you have removed the push roda and tubes to do the seals but havent adjusted the rocker clearances afterwards? Have you removed the dizzy at all?
Get it set up and drive it before you think of the distributor, but if you do change it there are ok electronic svda distirbutors "accuspark" on ebay for just under £60 which is really very good even if they turn out not to last long. The cheaper one is equivalent of what you have without vaccum advance. Don't be dazzled by your engine, it's easy to find TDC etc. Maybe you'd enjoy Tekenders.
I didn't spot that Para! You must have had the heads off? Seriously cat, don't drive it around until you've set it up right, you might damage something.
Got this Dizzy: Yup I took it all apart and adjusting the valve clearences was on my list of things to do. I didnt realise it was massively important as I guess I figured that I didn't adjust any thing and put it all back in the right place, it should be ok. Seems a bit stupid now I think about it! Didn't touch the dizzy except to put a new cap on it
Leave that dizzy alone for now if it worked before and you havent moved it and you have the plug leads on in the right order it will work fine afterwards We can talk about changing that at a later date First of all lets get you up and running You seem like a bloke eager to learn and give things a go and you obviously have some mechanical aptitude to drop an engine in the street and have a go I admire that in a bus owner Get yourself a gasket set ordered and a copy of the bentely or haynes manual for your bus Seal up those air leaks and set the clearances properly and she will fire and run good enough We can help you through a dizzy swap and timing in the next stage
Leg smacking in order for that one!! You'd got the rocker covers off, and the engine on the floor... would've taken all of 5 minutes to do the rockers!! The dizzy is a 009... so the accuspark that Zed mentioned is a good buy
Actually, assuming the heads were at their correct torque, if you really did religiously put everything back where it came from (including each pushrod), in my experience they shouldn't be far out, but really! As Paul says, madness not to check and adjust while it was in your hand so to speak. Before you do anything, check inside the cap and see if the rotor arm has been catching. New caps aren't always right. Then try it with the old cap anyway, it's an easy thing to do. Gaps (valve and points) Air leaks Timing I'm guessing you did replace the inlet manifold/head and exhaust gaskets? You really do need to or you only end up doing the whole job again.
Cheers for your help guys. I feel a bit embarrassed for not doing it but I was wanting to get it in this weekend. Yeah all the gaskets were done but the carb one didn't seem to be in the kit I got. Will sort these things and come back to you (don't know what I would do without this forum!!)
I think you'd sit at the side of the road swearing at it like I did with mine before getting advice from everyone on here
