1972 VW Bug Tune up Specs.
 

Hey All

Going to help my daughters boyfriend "fix" his 72 bug tomorrow night. He got in to tune it up and screwed it up. Don't know much about bugs, anyone know the following:

firing order
Plug Gap
Point Gap
Ignition timing low and high speed if applicable?

Anything else?

Thanks much SmileWavy

Get John Muir's book "idiots guide to keeping a vw alive forever" - it will be all he needs. Heck, I use it as a what-to and how-to on my 356, and use Elfrinks et al. for specs.

Anyway, firing order is 4123 clockwise, static timing should probably be 5 degrees before TDC, full advance at 3000 rpms should probably be 30 deg. Plugs i'm not sure on, the 356 uses 024 but I thnk it may be more plug dependant, points should be 016, dwell should be 50 deg. Valves should be 006 on both intake and exhaust, although some prefer 008 if drivin in hot weather, etc.

Hey id10t

thanks very much.

I don't have my book with me but I believe the firing order is 1432 and the engine I did recently the timing was 10 degrees BTDC. I got my specs from a Hayne's manual. I'm pretty sure that's what it is- with due respect to the previous post, I don't think that's right- but I could be wrong.

This info is wrong. Firing order is 1-4-3-2, what you wrote would be 1-2-3-4! :D

Make the kid run down to Pep Boys and buy a Haynes manual for it, (should be in stock), it will come in handy for him and you'll need it right now for reference. :cool:

Right on the firing order (what i posed is backwards), shows what I get for posting after a couple of Newcastles... Good thing I don't work on my car in that condition, huh? :)

Muir's book is still the one to have.

with the "revised" firing order that all looks right. You can static time it with a cheapo lite pretty easily too.

I do my static timing with a tail light bulb in a holder with a few aligator clips on the ends on the wire. One goes to the coil where the wire to the dist. condensor attaches, other end to ground. With the key on, when the points open the light lights.

Thanks guys, I'll have him buy a Haynes and the Muir book.

I knew I could count on you all for good reliable guidance.

The Zundfolge is stamped right on the generator stand!

The what?

BTW, I assume the cylinders are numbered like the Porsche i.e., LF=1, LR=2,RF=3. RR=4?

Zundfolge is German for "Don't get your fingers caught in the fan belt" :)

Cylinder layout:

flywheel
3 - 2
4 - 1
crank pulley

Had it completely wrong on the firing order, thanks Wide!

"Zunde" = ignite, "folge" = sequence. Pay particular attention to Thom's diagram; cylinders are numbered different (backward, kinda) from our 911's. This tripped me up when I first got into 911's. I have always set my valves at .10mm (.004"). .006"-.008" gets pretty noisy, although it probably won't hurt anything. Check and see if he is running a full mechanical advance distributor, like the Bosch 009. It's a very popular conversion and the timing specs are different for it than what the '72 manual will call out for the standard vacuum advance it came with. I go 7.5 btdc with the 009.

When it comes to valve settings...better to hear them than to smell them.

Ahem, I do believe the engine cylinders are oriented this way-

flywheel

3 1

4 2

The cylinder numbers are stamped right into the tin if you have any doubt.

You are right Ed; I've been looking at the 911 too long again. Front to back, right to left on the Bug, back to front, left to right on the 911. Why on Earth did they do that? I've taken to writing the cylinder numbers on the distibutor caps with a felt pen just because of this nonsense. The old one doesn't come off until the new one is written on and looks just like it. I don't know how many times I have reversed this in my head. It sure was easier when all I had was Bugs...

Hey it's really easy to make mistakes, I know I make my share of them. Just recently I purchased what was advertised as a 1600 VW engine as a temporary engine for my 356 project. Once I had it home I was showing it off to my friend who immediately recognized it to be a good old 40 horse (1200). To boot it had problems and I ended up rebuilding the top end with a 1500 big bore kit. I kind of wish I had just cut my loss and found a proper 1600 and added cylinders to that. Oh well, the saving grace is that I only spent $200 for the engine and it had a 6volt flywheel to match the starter. I guess those are hard to find. Absolutely no regrets about purchasing the car though! The engine and flywheel did bolt right in nd the engine has a surprising amount of power for what it is. If anybody had a line on a 356 or 912 engine reasonably priced, let me know.

Thanks guys!!!

Timing on the distributor was way off like 30 degrees! No. 2 plug wire was dead, Point gap was way open like 15 degrees of dwell. Told the boy to buy a Muir VW book and that I'll see him in the morning.SmileWavy

Johns book is a good read. He was (RIP) a pretty funny man.

Thanks all

Looked at the VW, distributor timing off by at least 30 degrees, points set at about 0.030", which resulted in about 10 degrees of dwell. One plug wire not firing. Told him to get a Haynes and a Muir book, and a valve gasket kit and we'd take a look at the valve adjust. The exhaust was whistling like it really needed an adjustment.

No kidding - the John Muir Volkswagen guide was one of the most influential books of my life.

Over twenty-five years ago as a starving college student trying to keep a ten year old Karman Ghia running, it set me on the way to being a DIY mechanic for the rest of my life. More importantly, it taught me that if you stop, research and plan, there's not much you can't do for yourself, if you want to. I also like the whole "know your ass" philosophy of working with machinery. I was actually touched a few years back when he passed away.

The image I always had of John Muir is personified by John Walker, the Porsche guru in Seattle.

the Muir book is a godsend. I enjoy reading it just as a book. just the illustrations alone are fun to look at..

I have my old copy of John's book from only the second or third printing. I bought the latest revision a couple years back to send off to school with my son. Truly classic stuff. My son gets a real kick out of the '60's hippie vernacular. "Dad, did they really talk like that?" He loves all the cautions about tying back your long hair when working around the running motor.

My well used 1973 copy :D check out the price on the lic. plate.
No tellin what went on around this book.
I rebuilt the motor of my 62 bug with this book and drove it for 10 years, burning up the road with 40 HP.
I put that bug in a lake ( they float good ) and it was even stolen once and the cops called me late one night to come get it without even impounding it. I bought it for 135.00 bucks needing motor work. Cool car.
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