Hey there Volks Folks

I'd like to get some advice from the mechanics in the club. Over the last few days, I've been trying to wrap my head around something I read in the How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive book. Would you recommend and/or how important is it to retard the timing of the #3 cylinder when using an in-line oil cooler on a 1500cc or 1600cc single port engine? Would this provide greater longevity for the engine  and especially the head on that side by allowing the engine to run cooler overall and protecting the #3 valves from warping? Anyway, thanks for taking a look. I really appreciate all the advice and encouragement here in forums.

For anyone that wants to get the full context of where I am coming from, I've got the 19th edition of the book. I'm looking at page 411 from chapter XIX entitled VW Mania that was written by John Hilgerdt. Here is the paragraph that got me thinking:

“The mid-sixties saw the end of the 40hp engine, with a new 1500cc/50hp engine in the bus in 1965. That same engine with a smaller displacement, the 1300, would go in to the '66 bugs for just one year, then become a 1500 again in 1967 until 1970, when displacement was increased to 1600cc. These engines had the spark timing for the no. 3 cylinder retarded 4 crankshaft degrees so that cylinder, the one just downstream from the oil cooler, would run a little cooler. Thus, it's important to use the right distributor cap and make sure the distributor has not been installed 180 degrees off on a rebuild.”

Ret.Bugtech has been wrenching on these critters longer than a lot of us have been around . . . he knows his stuff!!!  Use a dog-house cooler, make sure you have all the tin CORRECTLY installed, set your maximum timing to 32 degrees advance and don't worry too much about it.  Anything you do to make the oil run cooler (deep sumps, aftermarket coolers, etc.) is a bonus, but make sure you do it right.  Like Ret.Bugtech says, putting the cooler over the air intake on the fan shroud will take the heat from the oil and blow it back across your engine . . . it doesn't help, and could even make things worse.

You can get a general idea of the health of your exhaust valves by how fast they get tight.  If you have one that is getting extrememly tight every time you adjust them (at least every 2000 miles, when you change your oil and adjust your points and timing), it means that the valve is stretching . . . and it will only stretch so far before the valve head drops off in the cylinder.  If it happens at 70 mph, I can show what will happen to the piston, and it ain't pretty.  If the valve is starting to stretch excessivley, it's time to pull the head off, clean it up, and replace the exhaust vavles.

So, if someone (NOT me) DID put the dizzy in backwards (they did) would you then want to time it to 32 deg. total by the NO 3 plug wire? That would explain a lot on the 917. It would currently be set at 32 by the light on #1, making it actually 28 deg. total advance.
Or you could twist the timing light's knob forward another 4 deg. to compensate and time it off the #1 wire, right?

Anthony . . . I've had engines with the distributor drive shaft 180 degrees out of time too.  No big deal, just move the plug wires around . . . the only problem is how do you know whether or not #3 is retarded 4 degrees on your particular distributor.  If it is and you set your timing to 32 degrees on what's now #1, then the other three cylinders would be firing at 36 degrees advance.  If you hit the interstate, your engine wouldn't have long to live.  If you time it by what's now #3, I think everything would be fine regardless of the distributor.  1, 2 and 4 should fire at 32 degrees advance and #3 would fire at 32 degrees if it wasn't retarded, or 28 if it was.

I could be wrong, but that's the way I've always understood it.

With it 180 degrees out, when the #3 lug on the distributor opens the points, the rotor button is still pointing at #3 position on the cap, but that wire now is plugged onto the #1 spark plug.  If you time the engine by hooking your timing light to the wire going to the #1 spark plug, your timing is being set according to the #3 lug.  If the number 3 lug has 4 degrees of retard, all the other cylinders will be 4 degrees advanced from the one you set.

Yeah, there are actually two ways to "fix" the distributor drive shaft being 180 degrees out of time . . . you can put the distributor body in the normal position and move the wires around 180 degrees, or you can put the distributor body in 180 degrees out and leave the wires in their correct position.  One of those makes #1 fire off of what's supposed to be the #3 cam . . . I've confused myself so bad at this point, I'm going to have to draw myself a picture to figure out which one.  I've got a headache.   

Installed 180* out with a 1/4 turn in the rotation = 90* out....
So, yes, it could be 90* out.
KC

I think I'm going about this the wrong way. Looking at the Idiot's Guide, #1 should be firing when the rotor is pointing at about 5:00, looking from the rear. It is pointing thus, so I think the body of the dist. is turned the wrong way and just needs to be loosened and turned 180 deg. If the gear were in backwards, #1 would fire when the rotor is pointing at about 11:00, right?
Then, obviously, reset the timing.

Sorry if I jacked the thread here. Thanks for the help!