Somebody Help..

[berge13]

I removed the after market air unit from the 83.5 vanagon. I pulled the hoses, I took out the compressor, removed evrything off the inside of the vehicle. Cut hoses by the front under driver's seat. I was gonna take the other bracket out but i didn't want take a bunch of stuff off to get to the bolts. Anyway, I did loosen the distributor and moved it around a bit. Anyway, when I got in to start the car, it cranked, turned over, then stopped running. Now it turns over, but will not start. The wire in the pic was under the compressor and was in this melted shape, however car strated right up before I removed the compressor and hoses, etc.. Did I screw up the distributor? Did I cut a wire that needs to be grounded? I am at a loss.

Removed compressor here..

_________________
"If someone believes in you, well that is just the greatest thing in life..."
Berge;1972
85 WBX GL
Prior:
59 Ragtop
66 Barndoor
71 TinTop Westy
69 Karmann Ghia
62 Bus
83.5 Vanagon

[OilNBolts]

You are aware that "moving the distributor around a little" has changed your ignition timing, right? Time to get out the Bentley and figure out what those wires do. And, check/adjust the ignition timing.

Equally important, in pic #1 it really looks like there is a missing bolt on the exhaust flange. The resulting hot exhaust gas leak has burned the visible connector, and needs to be fixed before it does more (and by more I mean expensive) damage.
_________________
Current fleet: Vanagons, two '88 GLs and an 89 Bluestar. Beetles, '63, '64, '72 convertible. Plus, four Subarus and three Prius. Too many cars.

[ftp2leta]

[berge13]

Connector has been loose, also, when I took the cap off, it looked kinda funky. I did move it around a bit. I think I may just gey a new Dist. and put it on, do a timing check, and fix the exhaust seal leak.... Wow!!! I just wanted the A/C out! Like the song... "One thing leads to another...."
_________________
"If someone believes in you, well that is just the greatest thing in life..."
Berge;1972
85 WBX GL
Prior:
59 Ragtop
66 Barndoor
71 TinTop Westy
69 Karmann Ghia
62 Bus
83.5 Vanagon

[berge13]

O.K. I cleaned up the cap and rotor, placed rotor on mark (as suggested by tencent) ... now, I have slow response on throttle and some backfiring.... Somebody tell me what did I do wrong, hey, at least it now runs....
And... wife gets Band-Aids in Bulk at Costco....
Thanks all..
Berge
_________________
"If someone believes in you, well that is just the greatest thing in life..."
Berge;1972
85 WBX GL
Prior:
59 Ragtop
66 Barndoor
71 TinTop Westy
69 Karmann Ghia
62 Bus
83.5 Vanagon

[shenan-agon]

Sounds like you got the distributor set close enough to get the engine started (by aligning with the mark), but you still need to set the timing properly with a timing light..

[berge13]

Thanks to all, TenCent, shenan-agon, ftp2leta, OilNBolts, and the many others here on SAMBA. I picked up a timing light, (which I did not previously have) at Harbor Freight. Printed out the specs. from tencent and the diagram from Ben's Place... The motor sounds tight, great idle, appropriate power, no surge, no pinging, no coughing...
Thanks!
Berge
_________________
"If someone believes in you, well that is just the greatest thing in life..."
Berge;1972
85 WBX GL
Prior:
59 Ragtop
66 Barndoor
71 TinTop Westy
69 Karmann Ghia
62 Bus
83.5 Vanagon