Steve is right!
    What your really looking for is "full" advance setting. On my 84, the
second vacuum line retards the spark to lower the emissions at idle. Once it
looses it's vacuum the spark jumps to where it should be, in my thinking.
This was common practice for cars of that vintage to lower emissions at
idle.

Joe

----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Cotsford" <Cotsford@aol.com>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Monday, April 30, 2001 7:33 AM
Subject: Re: Digijet timing

> HI all,      On the question of ignition timing I would urge you to use
> caution when advancing the timing past specs.
> When the timing is too advanced then "pinking" or "pinging" can occur
which
> is detonation too early and it can be damaging to your engine.     It will
be
> most noticeable at low rpm when accelerating.    I am leery of this with
the
> poor quality gas we sometimes encounter.
> On the other side of this, VW probably retarded the ignition to meet
> emissions specs and so the book timing is too retarded for maximum power.
> Try advancing a degree at a time past 5 BTC and check for pinging.   Then
> back off a degree or two if you encounter this.     When the engine is
very
> hot (too hot) this pinging will occur earlier.     In Europe, often 10
> degrees BTC is used but the gas has a higher octane level.
> Check the maximum advance too.    This should be about 30 degrees BTC or
> perhaps a little more (vacuum advance disconnected).   Maybe another
listee
> has a more accurate figure for this.
> As the vehicle spends most of its life at full advance, this is the figure
> you want to get right.
> Steve Cotsford
>