Hello list. I have a baffling situation with the timing in my 87GL WBX.

While at a Vanagon meet last week here in Toronto, a fellow Vanagonaut
pointed out to me that my timing gear was out 180 degrees. To his trained
eye it stuck out like a sore thumb because the Hall sensor was pointing
towards the rear of the vehicle.
Obliviously an error by previous rebuilder. The timing gear was also missing
the 2 washers at the bottom which resulted in a little but negligible wear.
Also the timing seemed to be way out of wack as it showed to be nearly 30
degrees advanced - ran fine.
We then proceeded to turn the timing gear to correct position (with cylinder
#1 at TDC, as per Bentley) and added the 2 washers.
Following the instructions from the Bentley manual we adjusted the timing.
Still , the engine seemed the happiest at nearly 30 degrees advance, which
does not make sense.
Between 10-20 degrees advance the engine was bogging on heavy throttle but
would eventually get up to RPM.
Adjusting the timing as per spec. the engine ran like a dog - no power or
would not run at all.

The only difference now is that the engine will not cut out at idle - which
before required some fancy foot work when coming to a stop light to keep
engine running.

So, please List - shed some light on this!!!

Ken Madsen
Toronto, Ontario

[text/html]