Type 4 ign. timing.....TC?

I set the Bosch 009 dist. for 30 deg. advance at 3,000 rpm with the new ign. module..... After thinking on it a while, I wondered if this might not be the correct setting.... So any one, TC, Wolfgang, Angela, anyone have a proven seting??? The engine is said to be a 2 liter, but I think its more likely a 1.8...... Basicly stock heads, Baby Dels, modest exhaust system, and upright conversion.... Carb studs are same as 1.8 and 2 liter Bus. Thanks in advance.... 8-)

30 degrees at 3000 rpm should work OK in that engine. If you get detonation, then back off 1 or 2 degrees at a time until the pinging stops.

BTW: Have you read this?

http://www.aircooled.net/gnrlsite/resource/articles/distributor.htm#modified

John's article is about the best info around. He's a super helpful guy in general, you could email him if the 28 degrees isn't perfect for you.

All of my engines run hot (I KNOW, if they're built right they run right . . . but they don't.) They run hot so I usually drop a couple of degrees off of the total advance setting just in case.

Oh, if you haven't already, double check the torque on the heads, very important. We had a lot of late model bay windows come in with hammered heads because of over heating and lose studs/nuts.

Thanks Mango, Gordon..... Your time is appreciated.... I'll stick with the 30 deg. until I've had a longer road cruise and see the results of that.....

Give the engine what it wants. Start at 27* BTDC and move up in 2 degree increments to 34* and pay attention to what the engine likes on the fuel you intend to run. Someone could have dropped or raised the Compression ratio having a huge impact on the optimum timing.

You can't dictate to the engine what you want it to be optimized with, you have to throw variables at it and see what it LIKES.

Keep in mind that EVERY directive for these engines and their tuning was written when fuel was leaded and REAl. Today we deal with fuels enriched with ethanol and oxygen and these greatly impact the engine's optimum tune.

When you can find 70s fuel, you can tune using 70s directives~

^ X2

I'm not going to pretend to have anything to add to Jake's post, except to say that while old tune-up literature is kinda' neat... it's really pretty close to worthless for most of what we run.

The cam, heads, exhaust, compression, and carbs are all likely different than stock-- so even if you were running 1970s gas, you aren't running 1970s anything else. How many guys are running a stock cooling system in ANY air-cooled car? (A: not many)

An 009 will usually have enough timing scatter that getting it down to the exact degree will be pretty close to impossible. Start at 28- 30 deg total (at 3000 RPM) (just what you've got). Play around with it, and see how you like it-- you're not likely to screw it up by adjusting the timing. I'll bet a donut 28- 30 will be pretty close to what you end up with for use on a hot day with 93 octane gas.

Initial timing is something you can worry about when you get a distributor with an adjustable curve. You live with the curve you get with Bosch distributors. Total advance is what you care about, initial is what it is.

Thanks Jake, Stan..... Thats the plan for now....