Interesting information Dennis.  I was under the general impression that
removing the EGR would simplify things and not change performance at all,
perhaps even improve it.  All of the egr stuff is off of my van and I made
stainless plates to block off the opening on the plenum and through the
cooling tin.  My muffler is different too with no crossover pipe or egr
outlet and I don't think I'll be putting the egr system back on.

Anyway, there are a lot of factors that affect running temps of an engine
and I am trying to be mindful of any that I can control.  I am experimenting
with timing now and am curious what the rule is for overall advance with
this engine.

Thanks,

Jonathan Poole

On Sat, Mar 8, 2008 at 11:13 AM, Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@hotmail.com>
wrote:

> Is the EGR system connected and working? EGR reduces combustion
> temperatures and pinging. It was part of the NOx control strategy.
>
> Dennis
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
> Jonathan Poole
> Sent: Friday, March 07, 2008 8:30 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Overall Timing Advance, Air Cooled
>
> Hello,
>
> I have been playing around with the timing on my van trying to balance
> between power and cool running temps.  I am curious if there is a
> consensus
> on what the best overall advance is for an air cooled 2.0 engine.
>
> If I set the timing by the book at about 7.5 degrees at idle it advances
> to
> about 48 degrees overall.  It seemed like I could hear pinging at that
> setting and that it disappeared when I changed the timing to 5 degrees at
> idle.  Head temps dropped and there was no noticeable change in power from
> 7.5 to 5.  I am currently running 4 degrees at idle but haven't noticed
> power or temp changes from 5 degrees.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Jonathan Poole
> 83 AC Westy
>
>