1967-conversion to buggy, engine year unknown, AE 000-002 on case. Sat uncovered for seven years, neglected. Old Weber 40 idf carb, new Roy Rogers mechanical distributor, cap, rotor, ignition switch, ignition to coil wiring. Carb was stuck, soaked and cleaned up but was a pretty fresh inside. all wiring rat chewed, no keys, replaced ignition switch, wire to ignition coil, ground wire, new battery, Here now is the rub, it would crank good and start perfect. could not road test, it was on a trailer with brake problems. After it warmed up, it had some trouble starting, Replaced Distributor, had different #1 location, old one was vac. advance, would run, but not well, progressively got worse. Download a video on timing. put crank notches to case seam, test light on coil, set distributor in time. nothing, rechecked #1 pointing just like in the video, set to #1 on cap, 1432 firing order. could move distributor slowly and produce a hard crank, backfire sometimes. Rechecked again, 12.5 volts battery power at coil. Finally got it to run, idle poor, popping under open throttle. Rechecked, timing marks, test light setup, cap wiring, engine plug wires. Put old distributor back in, Ran, but same problems. Swapped back again to new part, pulled # 1 plug, check compression blowing out as crank Notches pass the case seam. reset timing, nothing, no start. move distributor, runs, misses, backfires, dies. 7 hours of this nonsense. Drained fuel, bleed lines, same problem. tried 2 test coils, same problem, the old starter is complaining now. It has gotten worse as the day went on. This is the first air cooled VW I have worked on. My ideas to try, new plugs, a new resistor coil, Could the engine have a shaft installed wrong? But if pulley lines up and Pointer is at #1 it seems unlikely. a bad timing gear, ? Valve trouble, stuck open? I have tried, I have failed. Ideas? There is 3 lines scribed into the case under and to the right side of the generator bracket, it this a different timing mark?

 

Welcome to the forum.

If its been standing for 7 years I would think fuel is the biggest problem. The ignition timing is easy to check as you've said with a test light and the knotch on the crankshaft pulley aligning with the slit in the crankcase.

It sound like you've been giving the starter motor some hammer if that beginning to sound weary. You shoudl crank an engine continually for more than 10 seconds.

Beetles don't use a ballasted ignition coil stick to the original spec.

I would do a compression test if its been standing for that length of time as a valve could be stuck open.

Oh please add a few paragraphs in your text it makes for easier reading.


https://volkswagenforum.com/forum/ne...gnature-34185/

 

This old vw has had years of neglect and multiple people working on it over the years. I failed to realize that it may not have ever ran correctly before it was parked 7 years ago.

Change the spark plugs this morning. cranked it, turning the distributor, it fired off and ran, very poorly at open throttle. Dies at idle. Then it died and would not restart.

I called Roy Rogers VW in Springfield Missouri. I had purchased the distributor from them. They told me to start with the basic again, check point gap, timing, cap wiring.

points were burned and sticking, I put in new points, a voltage resistor and still had the same no start, back fire problem. Again call Rogers and described how i timed the engine.

Problem found, the distributor gear was not installed in the correct timing. I would say 180* out, but not that exact degree. Was informed that someone must have cranked the engine without a distributor and the gear had wormed up and skipped time. Check the old distributor and see what they had the cap firing order wired to.

Sure enough, I crossed wired the cap and got it to start, then adjusted the distributor by ear.. Runs great now. But have only 65 psi compression on #3, 90 psi on the rest. Just happy to hear it run.

In retrospect, sticky burned points, engine shaft out of time, cap wired to wrong firing order. The online timing and firing orders are great. It just did not match what I needed. What a learning experience, just thought I list the cure for this problem. Thanks

 

Thats unusual the distributor drive gear popping up.

65 psi compression is low I think it should be around 120 psi (new) when I had my 1968 Camper 1600 as they are only a low compression ratio.

Well I'm glad you got it sorted in the end.

https://volkswagenforum.com/forum/ne...gnature-34185/