help please vans not well

[69 panel porn]

hi there im having trouble with my camper as its not running correct its missing and some times back firing i took it to the garage and the said it was the distributor so i sat with the engine running slowly adjusting the distributor and i could hear the engine pick up and then run pap again and it felt like the engine was knockin from the inside not makin a noise just judering so im thinking of changing the distributor,, but i was just wanting to see if any of you guys no of any thing else it could be
please can any 1 help :shock:

 

[Jay71]

Could be the condenser on the side of the dizzy? Only a couple of quid so worth a try before you buy a new dizzy :?:

 

[sparkywig]

I think a timing light may help....

 

[geenjay]

change the points and condenser if its a vac advance check that and then set the timming with a timming gun unless you can get hold of a dwell meter might be worth checking the valve clearance as well :mrgreen:

 

[71Westy]

Sounds like its back to basics time - so checking plugs and points (and I guess valve clearances (on a stone cold engine)) then timing. Have the garage done any checks? Worth using a dwell meter to finely adjust the points gap - on my engine, it is quite sensitive to the gap adjustment. And a timing light to get the timing as good as possible. Is it an 009 or vac advance? If the latter, a gentle suck on the vac advance pipe to check that it is advancing is worth doing too.

Nick

 

[69 panel porn]

the dizzy that was fitted was a 009 but its got elctronic point so i dont have to adjust them,
i changed the dizzy today and got it running the best i could with the short time i had as ive moved it so i can get to work on it with my friend,,
if i got a timing light is it easy to set it up by my self??
and how do i check the valve clearence??
thanks sam

 

[sparkywig]

Do you have a workshop manual?

 

[71Westy]

Well, if I were you I'd seek out a decent engine tuner in your area who is known to be good with air-cooled. There's a brilliant chap in Ipswich who came round and set mine up after I'd tweaked and tweaked. He had the benefit of a gas analyser, which does help. But he also showed me the ropes - what makes a big difference, what doesn't etc. So I should be able to do a lot more myself. Best £70 I've spent on the van - and if I need him again, I know what to do so that he just does the final bit with the analyser - so it'll be £20-30 then.

If you are going to do it yourself, then I recommend you get a Bentley manual if you haven't already - although the timing data in that is confusing, so ignore it and ask on here. I set mine to 7.5 degrees BTDC at idle, rising to around 30 degrees at 3000rpm. I bought a fancy timing light with changeable settings for that - which were crap, so i ended up going the tippex route anyway, with a blob at 7.5, and a blob at 30 degrees. The manual will also tell you about checking the valve clearances.

Cheers,
Nick