Club 80-90 Forums

Hi all,
I have a 1980 2000cc CU engine T25. Air cooled.
Had a few problems last year which I sorted out. One problem was my carbs started to leak petrol out of the casing. Casing had hair line crack. Don't ask, I have no idea how it happened.... As a bodge fix I used liquid metal on crack. This solved problem and I was able to get home.
As a seconded quick fix I a stuck a weber progressive on. Runs ok but not great. Managed to get about 3/4 throttle but its not jetted to the engine.

So now I have picked up a pair of empi 44's. Very cheap. I intend to use these for the forseable future. These have been jetted to 2000cc.

I need help in finding out where I can attach the vac pipe from the dizzy. I am running a stock original electronic ignition set-up. The 44's came from an engine with 009 dizzy so no vac pipe was used.

Any ideas where to attach or how I can attach vac pipe from dizzy ?

I know I will need to get on a rolling road to be set-up properly and I also know that the Empi 44's probaly are not the best.
But they were cheap and I got to use what I got.

Budgets tight.

Many thanks in advance for any help.
Thanks, Jon

You should have two vac pipes on a CU engined van. The one from the balance pipe retards the ignition from 8'BTDC to 4'ATDC for starting and lower emissions at idle. The one from the carb advances the ignition from about 30'BTDC to 40'BTDC to improve performance / MPG at higher revs. Have you got two vacs pipes? To be honest if the Empi hasn't got a vac take-off you could probably live with just running the van on the dizzie's mechanical advance like a 009 and blank the vac connections.

Hi Boxy, thanks for responce.
So your saying that I could run the empi's, blank both of the vac ports on the dizzy and I might be ok?
One of the vac ports on the dizzy is already blanked off, so I suppose I could blank off the other with the weber progressive still in situ and see how it runs.
That would give me an idea of any changes to the running.
If it seems ok, swap over the empi's and redo the timming.

Does that sound like a plan...?

Thanks, Jon

Set the timing to 6-8' BTDC with both the vacs pipes blanked. Take the revs up to +3000 and see if the timing advances to somewhere near 30' BTDC. The van should run fine like that. Don't risk running the van too long without getting the mixture set up. The wrong mixture can affect flame rates and kill an engine.

Thanks for your advice.
Will have a go this week and let you know.

I've seen, at least on some beetles, the inlet manifold tapped and a small pipe screwed in to serve as the vacuum trigger. If you're stuck for options, you might consider that.

Thanks covkid, I'v found this info also. Another option to consider.

Up date....
Empi 44s on and timing set as BOXY sugguested.

BOXY wrote:Set the timing to 6-8' BTDC with both the vacs pipes blanked. Take the revs up to +3000 and see if the timing advances to somewhere near 30' BTDC. The van should run fine like that. Don't risk running the van too long without getting the mixture set up. The wrong mixture can affect flame rates and kill an engine.

Still a bit of fine tweeking with mixture and pressure regulator. Going to run bus for a week and check spark plugs colour.

Initial impression is that all seems fine.

Think I may need to re-mortgage to pay for the petrol, bit juicy these 44s...

One quick question, I have a dip stick temp gauge (justkampers) and after running about for an hour, A-roads and a quick scoot between junctions on the M6, reading on gauge is about 110.

Does this temp sound ok?

Fingers crossed and many thanks, Jon