Skip to main content

Sunsets and Stutters - Part Deux



Well, I'm going to call the original issue of the engine blipping/stumbling as fixed. On the Volkswagen Bay Window Type 2, I've changed the leads, rotor arm, distributor cap, cleaned the distributor, cleaned all electrical connections to coil, etc, repaired a a few vacuum hoses with slight split-ends and generally tidied up the wiring routes.

The bus starts first turn of the key and I went on a hilly 15 mile test drive at 40+ mph and the bus ran perfectly.

Though the original issue now seems to be fixed for the Volkswagen Bay Window, or it was an anomaly, I will have to revisit the rough looking distributor that I discovered on my fixing warpath. The distributor looks as if hasn't been cleaned in years. Also, the installed Compufire module is supposed to be touch-less, but something has definitely been touching the casing of the module. As you can see in the picture, the casing is almost worn through. At the moment, I'm deciding between a new module or refitting points/condenser. But that's a story for another time.

By far, the most difficult part of this refresh was not dropping a socket/plug under the tin of #2 cylinder. I used a socket with a plug grabber insert and secured the socket to the extension with tape. At first, I tried to use a piece of 3/8 hose to guide the plug(s) but that fell off on #3 cylinder, so I reverted back to a spark plug socket.






Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Bleeding New Year

 Happy New Year! After buying our bus in April '20, we replaced the rear shoes and cylinders and bled the system. Front pads seemed fine, as did hoses. We have driven the bus many miles since then with the brakes working well. My daughter took the bus to visit a neighborhood friend and reported that the brakes faded almost all the way to the floor. She was able to pump the brakes to stop. However, after the pumping the brakes were fine again. On her return, I took the bus for a test on the exact route, no issues and the brakes were fine there and back. I also tested the booster by pressing the pedal while starting and, as expected, the pedal dropped slightly - but settled well over half the available travel, as its always been. Fluid is full with no apparent leaks. The reason why seemingly good brakes would intermittently fade? Brake master cylinder - apparently, when a MC is about to fail fully, intermittent loss of pedal pressure is common. I soaked the brake pipe nuts in PB Blas...

New Distributor, New Life

The refurbished distributor finally arrived for our Volkswagen Bay Window Type 2. After a little grease and a "wiggle",  the distributor dropped straight into place. I placed the pulley timing mark at 7. 5 BTDC (visually) and, using a test light, rotated the distributor until the test bulb just illuminated. I turned the key, and instant success! Bus started immediately and held a tick-over.  My next step is to time with a timing light. The distributor has a single vacuum that is currently attached to the throttle unit. However, I believe that I should have a 'T' in the vacuum line that also goes to a nipple under the air box. That nipple was capped by the previous owner. For now, I will time with just the vacuum attached to the throttle unit - as it was with the previous electronic module dist. The VW Bus started first time and performed flawlessly on a 10 mile test drive. However, the tachometer's now reading roughly 1.5x higher rpms than it did when we used the ...

Wink, wink....nudge, nudge

We fitted chrome 'eyelids' to the Bus because we like the look. Check out the install video here: Before and after picture: