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440roadrunner · 11-10-2007, 12:33 PM

Did you see what I wrote in your other post concerning the drums?

So far as valves, remember this: If in doubt, you are better off looser than tighter. Not enough valve lash can cause burned valves

So far as timing without a light, if you can find an old VW mechanic, he or she probably knows how to set timing "by static"--with the engine off. What you do is this:

bump the engine to the timing mark you want, I.E. 5BTC or whatever it should be. If you have a wrench for the front crank nut, this is easy, if you have a stick, you can put the car in high gear and waggle the care fore and aft against the slack.

Once you have the timing "on the mark" then loosen the distributer and move the distributer to RETARD (on your car, CW) With the ignition ON, slowly move the distributor towards ADVANCE ( on your car, CCW) until you get a spark. You can take an old plug, and temporarily hook it from the coil HT lead (center lead) to ground. If you use a low voltage lamp, put the lamp on the neg. term of the coil to ground. When the points open the lamp will light.

This won't be entirely as accurate as a strobe timing light, but it's more accurate than you can hear.

11-10-2007, 12:33 PM	#2 (permalink)
440roadrunner Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 272	Did you see what I wrote in your other post concerning the drums? So far as valves, remember this: If in doubt, you are better off looser than tighter. Not enough valve lash can cause burned valves So far as timing without a light, if you can find an old VW mechanic, he or she probably knows how to set timing "by static"--with the engine off. What you do is this: bump the engine to the timing mark you want, I.E. 5BTC or whatever it should be. If you have a wrench for the front crank nut, this is easy, if you have a stick, you can put the car in high gear and waggle the care fore and aft against the slack. Once you have the timing "on the mark" then loosen the distributer and move the distributer to RETARD (on your car, CW) With the ignition ON, slowly move the distributor towards ADVANCE ( on your car, CCW) until you get a spark. You can take an old plug, and temporarily hook it from the coil HT lead (center lead) to ground. If you use a low voltage lamp, put the lamp on the neg. term of the coil to ground. When the points open the lamp will light. This won't be entirely as accurate as a strobe timing light, but it's more accurate than you can hear.