How can I make my van faster up hills/ motorway ? PART 2

[Smcknighty]

Get a km based speedo - then you don't know how fast you are going.. It's amazing how soon you cease caring.. Mind I do have a 1.6d..

[Ralf85]

Get a km based speedo - then you don't know how fast you are going.. It's amazing how soon you cease caring.. Mind I do have a 1.6d..

Nice one!

[BOXY]

he thinks and only thinks at this point that the engine was rebuilt at some point and the crank shaft has been put in one tooth out !

I'd of thought it would be easy to check if this is the case. He could turn the engine to line up the timing mark at 0' on the timing scale & the mark on the rim of the dizzie with the end of the rotor arm. That means the piston on the number 1 cylinder is at top dead centre and should have both valves closed. If he gets someone to watch the rockers on No1 as he turns the engine by hand 360' he should be able to tell if the valves are opening too early or too late.

If the camshaft is one tooth out from the crankshaft the engine would have to be removed, split and rebuilt. Kerrching! You'd probably be better off trading your engine in against a recon and having that fitted.

Or you could ask the garage to fit a different dizzie as a trial.
1x 10mm clamp bolt to loosen.
Un-clip dizzie cap.
Remove dizzie by pulling.
Fit new dizzie by pushing.
Tighten 10mm clamp.
Re-fit cap.
Check timing if you didn't make some useful marks before starting.
Test run van

It would take less than 20 minutes.

[sternal]

Or you could ask the garage to fit a different dizzie as a trial.
1x 10mm clamp bolt to loosen.
Un-clip dizzie cap.
Remove dizzie by pulling.
Fit new dizzie by pushing.
Tighten 10mm clamp.
Re-fit cap.
Check timing if you didn't make some useful marks before starting.
Test run van

thats what he is doing tomorrow apparently !

if that makes no difference then... im not going down the engine rebuild road yet !

[sternal]

...the van is back !

Beetlemanias (thats in Muswell Hill London) investigation cost me a £100 and didn't come up with an answer ! As I said before he performed all the necessary checks, he said he tried a different distributor but this made no difference...(no idea if he did or didnt ) he said about the black sparks but all is running normally...he did say all gears great until you get to 4th and it looses all puff hence 55mph top speed with out taking the engine apart or trying a brand new dizzy hes none the wiser...

Timing adjusted to 12% and and at 2500rpm its 32 % does this make sense to anyone !!!! is this correct if it does make sense to you ?

Top revs are at 4.2 rpm now he adjusted before they were at 3200rpm ???

I'm not sure if Ive been put over a barrel or what !

Test drive Saturday

also going to put a post up to see if anyone with an Aircooled lives locally to me so I can compare !

[sarran1955]

...
Top revs are at 4200 rpm now he adjusted before they were at 3200rpm ???

!

Hello,

Like I showed you...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsfo5ATgBp0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The 2 litre CU is about the last of the line of the T4 engine... in standard form.... detuned... 74 BHP

Or in the 411 LE (you'll never have heard of it) 84 BHP

Also available in the Porsche 914 124 BHP....

Why..... more revs more air, sodium filled bigger valves.. lighter flywheel... etc. etc.

Takes time money and experience....

How fast do you want a 30 year old bread van filled with chipboard , with brakes like your engine, to go...

Be serious..

Cordialement.

[sternal]

You obviously haven't read my original post ! I don't want to travel at 70 but able to get to 60/65 to overtake if I have to. First sign of a hill I'm down to 25 and on a motorway on a hill 35 if that's normal I shall be quiet !

[petethefeet]

Hi all,
I have been reading these posts with interest as I too have a CU engined van.
I finally took it to a rolling road today as it was using even more fuel than I expected (15 mpg ), well after 3 hours of jet changing I have a van that is running a good deal leaner (not too lean) and sounds better but it still only produced 52 hp.
It runs OK on the flat but as yet to try it up my 'bench mark' hill

[H Julia]

Hi there, I've got an 1981 2 L air cooled engine in my van. I bought my van about 18 months ago and have come a long road of experience and ' works' on it's engine to get it running well. It is SO very different now!!
I am just back from a trip to Applecross in the North west of Scotland from Edinburgh and came most of the way back at a steady and comfortable 80/ 85 K along the A 9 much of which is quite hilly - mostly up! So whilst I can't offer you any of the mechanical expertise of some of our fellow air cooled van owners, from my experience when an air cooled is running well you do have a bit of puff up a hill (i used to be struggling like you) and should be able to get up to 60/65 mph when flattish on the motorway.
Hopefully you will get it sorted and working well. There is a very well respected expert ( recommended to me by someone on the forum) on air cooled engines not too far from me who sorted my engine for me and fitted twin carbs.
Good luck!

Julia

[sternal]

So has the timing been set up okay ?
60 on the flat would be great !

[tobydog]

You obviously haven't read my original post ! I don't want to travel at 70 but able to get to 60/65 to overtake if I have to. First sign of a hill I'm down to 25 and on a motorway on a hill 35 if that's normal I shall be quiet !

How do you drive the van? They're not like modern vehicles, they're under powered and quite heavy by modern standards. Speed takes a while to build up and when you come to an incline, be ready to change down before you would normally do in a car. Whilst climbing hills the engine does not have enough torque at low speed and needs revs to cool it.

NB
Overtaking has to be planned in advance!

Mick.

[sternal]

no ones actually answered this


Timing adjusted to 12% and and at 2500rpm its 32 % does this make sense to anyone !!!! is this correct if it does make sense to you ?

I dont want to be causing unnecessary damage

[faggie]

sarran i dont know where abouts you got the bhp outputs from the type 4 engine from but the 2.0 litre cu engine code is 70bhp, the 1.7 w code out of a 411 or 914 in injected form is 80bhp, the 1.8 an engine is carburetted and produces 85bhp, and the 914 2.0 cc gb engine code is 100bhp definately not 124bhp are you shure you not getting mixed up with the 924 the watercooled engined porsche ,
52 bhp at the wheels as pete the feet is getting after his rolling road tune is very good for a standard cu engine ,

[mark]

everything you are looking for is in the wiki, if your timing is retarded you get less power and low mpg/ too advanced and you get knocking and pinking and an increase in temp in the combustion chamber, ie you cook the engine. any answer you get offof here is a guess, the man who knows best is a man who knows how type 4 engines work, works on them regularly and knows how to set them up and is looking at, and listening to your engine.
seems like a life time ago that I gave you a link to an experienced Aircooled vw garage in London

mark
https://club8090.co.uk/wiki/Pe ... gnition_01" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

https://club8090.co.uk/wiki/Pe ... gnition_02" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[sternal]

mark richards = if you suggested beetle mania then thanks for that

Been back today as they set the timing way to high it was popping all over the place when revving, timing has been put back to 5atdc and now not popping, had a long chat with the mechanic he said they had a van like this a few years ago and couldn't get to the bottom of it ! unless the engine is taken apart he will never get the answer ! camshaft one tooth out is his guess...

if you have any other suggestions fire away ! everything has been checked so far...

just going to live with it for now