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Mon May 23, 2005 8:59 pm

hey all!
I'm in the middle of rebuilding a 1600 for a squareback I picked up and have gotten to the point of putting the distributor/ drive shaft in. When I put the shaft in, it went in fine at TDC with the 60degree offset and such and the distributor (009) went in fine also; but when I crank the engine over by hand, as #2 cylinder fires the distributor pops up, then settles back in right afterward. What I would love to hear is that this is normal and is easily remedied, but I'm too far into this project to even expect that anymore :roll: ! Any help would be appreciated.

Mon May 23, 2005 9:08 pm

Do you have the shims in under the gear?? What gear are you using? The one big shim, or the 2 thin ones. Are you turning the engine by hand backwards? You may have a bad brass gear on the crank. And you need the clamp in place and have the clamp tightened.
Do you have the fuel pump in?

Tue May 24, 2005 7:44 am

I have the shims under the gear, and the gear itself is one big one. The fuel pump is not in yet, and I initially had the clamp on but took it off. My concern is that the clamp would hold the distrib in place and strip the brass gear on the crank if forced. The crank itself was rebuilt by a mechanic, so I don't think that's it. And the distrib only pops out when the engine is turned forward, not when its turned backward. This whole issue may just be paranoia, but I would hate to have to start the whole rebuilding process again because I didn't ask! Thanks.

Tue May 24, 2005 10:17 am

Clamp the distributor down. Turn it over, just don't force it. if you have to force it, something's wrong. It doesn't sound to me like you have a problem.
On crate VW engines, there used to be a tag saying DO NOT turn the engine without the distributor bolted in place, as the gear can lift and shift position. So bolt it up and check TDC CAREFULLY. Hopefully your dist. drive isn't a tooth off now.

Tue May 24, 2005 1:06 pm

Thanks for humoring my paranoia! Clamped everything down and it turns fine. Better stupid questions than stripped gears...right?

Wed May 25, 2005 12:20 pm

dubnerds wrote: Thanks for humoring my paranoia! Clamped everything down and it turns fine. Better stupid questions than stripped gears...right?

A question's only stupid when you don't ask it.