1980 Cali Westy starting issues

[Wildthings]

[LordHuron95]

I’d guess that you’re right. Or it’s sourced from something else. It’s the distributor that the PO had in in, and I drove the van for years with it in so at the least, it does work.

I rotated the drive gear I think one tooth CW. Sounded more like it wanted to run, and did if I was actively giving it gas. Though the moment I lifted my foot, it died.
_________________
Never swing a mean loop. Never do dirt to man nor animal.

-1980 Vanagon Westy

[Wildthings]

[quote="LordHuron95"]First image shows position of the drive gear at TDC. As far as I can tell it is within the range the book says to install it at. If it is say on a clockface, 11-6 in my image, and you’re saying to rotate it by one tooth CW, so in the direction of 12-7, yes?




My guess is your distributor is built with an incorrect part or two. Just rotate the drive maybe one or two teeth either way and see how that works.

Here are a few pictures from the gallery:

[LordHuron95]

First image shows position of the drive gear at TDC. As far as I can tell it is within the range the book says to install it at. If it is say on a clockface, 11-6 in my image, and you’re saying to rotate it by one tooth CW, so in the direction of 12-7, yes?

Second image shows where exactly the vacuum can is making contact

_________________
Never swing a mean loop. Never do dirt to man nor animal.

-1980 Vanagon Westy

[Wildthings]

[LordHuron95]

[Wildthings]

If you have a two hose vacuum can, you may want to move the drive one tooth to get additional room to move the distributor, while the single hose vacuum cans are less at to bump into anything. Can't see exactly what you are up against from here though.

[LordHuron95]

[Wildthings]

[LordHuron95]

Coming back with my tail between my legs, and little frustration.
Problem was the starter…

Didn’t check it sooner because it was in the van for no more than a month or two before the engine had to come out. Thought there was no way it was the culprit. Ended up having nothing else to lose and still had my old starter which worked intermittently beforehand. While installing it, I noticed the solenoid was very loosely mounted. Maybe the reason for inconsistent cranking?

Tightened it up, installed it and she turned over no problem!

Fiddled with odds and ends but finally got to drive it after almost 2 years!

Of course I tried smogging it (in CA after all) and it failed due to high idle and apparently a fed. cat is installed which I genuinely did not know.

After messing with the distributor, now it won’t start again…
I noticed this morning that the spring had come out under the dist. but after putting it back, still nothing. It cranks easily, I have spark. Timing is okay with the mark at TDC. Theres about a quarter of a tank or maybe very slightly under; at least according to the gauge.
_________________
Never swing a mean loop. Never do dirt to man nor animal.

-1980 Vanagon Westy

[Wildthings]

[LordHuron95]

[Wildthings]

[LordHuron95]

[quote="Wildthings"
Since your engine would have come from the factory with hydraulic lifters, I am assuming that is what you now have as well. Solid lifters and hydraulic lifters have very different methods of adjustment.

Even if you prime the hydraulic lifters there still may be some air in them at the time of installation, plus once the rest of the valve train is installed some oil may be forced out of the lifters leaving the soft. If you try to adjust a lifter with any air in it all you have pushing the lifter to the fully extended position is a tiny very weak spring inside the lifter, so it's very easy to accidentally go past the point of contact. The point of contact for a soft lifter is hard enough to find with ones bare fingers and if you are using a screwdriver to turn the screw in, there is a very high chance you will miss the point of contact which will throw everything done after that off. I suspect that for some men they don't have good enough feeling in their hands to find the point of contact for a soft lifter even using their bare fingers. /quote]

If I'm understanding correctly, I think that was what I tried at first. I turned the screw by hand and once I felt the tiniest resistance, I stopped as that to me is "just making contact" as the books stated. Which they state should be followed by 2 full clockwise rotations.

I'm still scratching my head as several others, including my builder, state there should be a gap. Using your answers on hydraulic vs solid, you're right, I had hydraulic and replaced them with new hydraulics. Which my builder knew.
Is the gap vs no gap a preference? Or is it a general rule of thumb at this point?
_________________
Never swing a mean loop. Never do dirt to man nor animal.

-1980 Vanagon Westy

[Wildthings]

[LordHuron95]

[Wildthings]

If the lifters are not fully pumped up which is very likely the point of contact is very subtle. You can sometimes get the lifers to pump up quickly by temporarily finding the point of contact and then backing them off a tiny bit, say 0.005". Don't know why this works but it seems to. Once the lifters are pumped up they can be preloaded normally. It is best to preload only one side at a time as preloading the may cause the valves to be held open making it hard to get the engine to run. Best to preload one side and then run the engine long enough for those lifters to self adjust and then go back and preload the other side.

[LordHuron95]

[Xevin]

You could slap a magnet on them.
_________________
Keep on Busin'

[LordHuron95]