On Sun, 18 Apr 2004, Mark Seifert wrote:

> This is a 2.1. I dont think the #3 is slightly retarded. But why did they do
> that on the older engines? I know the aircooled bugs were like that.

On VW Beetles, cylinder #3 tended to overheat because the airflow to it
was partially blocked by the oil cooler.  The timing for that cylinder was
slightly retarded to tame its tendancy to swallow exhaust valves.