Security Buggin! keeping a 74 baja alive doing timber patrol in Southwestern Oregon

[Ol'fogasaurus]

The Balljoint problem was addressed on Lee's thread here.
viewtopic.php?f=28&t=136514&start=315

It began like this.
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In the second part of the URL was where the fix for the upper alignment part was given... reaming a stock adjuster to fit the larger upper BJs.

[bad_chopper]

this is an awesome thread, need a non law enforcement deputy. How often do you have to cruise around up there? keep up the post.

[Dougstr]

This happened the other day

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I was having an awsome day of Security Buggin out in some really nice country

https://photos.app.goo.gl/18XNL5pCDT92SbxF9

https://photos.app.goo.gl/qckRboWU9Wkrk2pR6

Just after I passed through Powers (there seems to be something about Powers) I had an issue. I had been noticing a miss for the last several miles. I pulled up on to Baker creek road. All of the sudden the Security Bug died. She died right after I crossed over the bridge over the South Fork of the Coquille. I tried turning her over a couple of times, but she just said no!

She was on a hill so I coasted backwards over the bridge and into the first available wide spot. I sat there for a bit scratching my head. I tried turning her over a couple more times. I thought maybe it was a vapor lock I had that happen a couple of times with my old bug. I got out and checked all my wires, everything looked good. Fuel looked good. While I was doing this a rock truck went by hauling rock up onto Baker Creek. It came back a few minutes later and the driver stopped. A gentleman named Mike stepped out and asked if I needed help. I figured I had some type of electrical issue and had arranged for my wife to start heading my direction for a tow home. I told him that I had help coming. He asked what the problem was and I told him that I didn't know and I told him what I had done to this point. He asked If I had checked for spark at the coil. I told him no, and together we went to the back pulled off the coil wire and sat it close to the engine block to see if we could get a spark. No spark. We put the coil wire back on and the pulled the distributor off and checked for spark at the points. No spark. I tell you all of this because this was perfect. The Security Bug is teaching me a lot. I have never been a mechanic. I knew I needed spark coming out of the coil but didn't think of how I could observe it in the field. Mike knew. He was a wealth of information. Come to find out he has four VW's. He's been there done that, and was more than willing to help. Thanks Mike! I still had to be towed home but that was just another part of the adventure.

[Dougstr]

When I got her home, some of you may remember that I had a new pertronix distributor sitting on my bench. It was one of the next things on my list, but because I wasn't comfortable changing it out, and because the Security Bug had been running good I left it there. Wellll, She wasn't running good anymore.

I read up more about changing out a distributor. I had decided to go with the electronic ignition and convert from a 009 to the Pertronix SVDA. I had a few challenges with this swap. The distributor didn't seem to line up as I thought it should. I rotated the engine to TDC prior to removing the old one and tried not to move anything as I pulled it out and put the new one in. I must have screwed something up as she wouldn't fire. I went back to basics. I made sure I was at TDC by removing the plug from cylinder number one and using a zip tie as a feeler gauge made sure the piston was at the top of the stroke. I didn't know whether I was at the top of the combustion stroke though. I set my plug wires up as I was guessing they should go based on the mark on the distributor. The rotor was facing toward the rear of the car. She didn't fire. I flipped the wires 180° assuming that the the engine was combusting on cylinder number 3. Now the rotor was pointing toward the front of the car when it sparked cylinder number 1 (I believe). I am probably not articulating this well and it has been pretty confusing to me. She did fire after I did this and I timed to 7° and 28°with the vacuum plugged.

I took her for a test drive and she ran good but I seemed to have a very narrow power band. I am not sure that my carb is compatible. The carb is the SOLEX H30/31

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I have seen comments on the forums going both directions. Some say it will work some say no. At this point I am leaning toward no. It runs good when it is at high rpms but it has a wide flat spot getting there. This is how I set it up.

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I found a post on the Samba that talked of always using the vacuum port on the left of the carb for the distributor so that is what I did.

I have ran it this way for about three weeks. It does the job but has caused at least one significant issue which I will go into later. Please weigh in on the comments up above. I am sure that I made a bunch of missteps and hopefully my challenges will clarify swapping a distributor for the next guy

[Ol'fogasaurus]

There are a couple of 009 dist. and one being better than others. I don't remember now how to determine the difference but, if I remember correctly, it is in the body of the dist. The 009 advance comes in at something like 26 degrees while the less good unit seems to be more erratic. There are work arounds one being to use a vacuum dist. but not hook up the vacuum, using the mechanical part instead.

Lee

[chuckput]

Up front I must say that I am not that familiar with the SVDA, but I did do some research. First, SVDA stands for Single Vacuum, Dual Advance - it has both a vacuum and centrifugal advance. What I understand is that the centrifugal advance takes care of the higher RPMs while the vacuum is for lower revs. So if you are having a flat spot in the lower RPM range it may be a vacuum issue.

According to Air-cooled.net, the SVDA is compatible with the 30/31 PICT carb you have (it is not compatible with the 30 PICT 1 or 30 PICT 2).

Here's another recommendation from ACN you might want to consider: Pertronix SVDA (12V) Distributor with Flamethrower 1 Electronic Points Device -- can only be used/run with a 3.0 OHM Coil and Pertronix recommends NON-metal core plug wires.

[Dougstr]

The new distributor came with the electronic ignition. That was part of its appeal and I think it was ACN that I was thinking of when I read it would work with my carb. The engine had a 009 when I got it. I wasn't planning on using the SVDA until I started thinking about swapping to electronic ignition. When I started looking around I saw the sweet deal on the pertronix unit and what I read seemed like it would be good to swap to the the SVDA. Part of it could be that I didn't soak the carb when I put it back in service. I don't know how well I cleaned that area because I wasn't needing vacuum. I have since ran a rod through to make sure it wasn't plugged. When I get the new engine I am going to use a PICT 34-3. I have one on the bench and I hope to get it in the can tomorrow to start cleaning it up. I think I will put it on and see how that helps.

[chuckput]

Still researching for curiosity sake and I came up with this on another forum that was discussing which port to use when using a vacuum advanced distributor:

Solex h30/31 PICT ports:
left: vacuum-only distributor like our single port early bays.
rear, horizontal: vacuum retard for DVDA.
rear, angled up: vacuum advance for SVDA/DVDA.

[Dougstr]

[Dougstr]

Still researching for curiosity sake and I came up with this on another forum that was discussing which port to use when using a vacuum advanced distributor:

Solex h30/31 PICT ports:
left: vacuum-only distributor like our single port early bays.
rear, horizontal: vacuum retard for DVDA.
rear, angled up: vacuum advance for SVDA/DVDA.

Cool! I will give that a shot! Thanks!

[chuckput]

Just a reminder (because it always messed me up when I was starting out in VWs), when it says "rear" it means the rear of the vehicle. The clutch is on the front of the engine, etc.

[Dougstr]

Just a reminder (because it always messed me up when I was starting out in VWs), when it says "rear" it means the rear of the vehicle. The clutch is on the front of the engine, etc.

I went back and read my post above to make sure I was referencing directions right and I think I was. That is part of what was causing me some confusion. I don't think I have read anything that talks about the rotor pointing toward the front (clutch) at TDC, but that is how mine currently is configured

IMG_20200818_121840_2 - Edited.jpg

[Dougstr]

Still researching for curiosity sake and I came up with this on another forum that was discussing which port to use when using a vacuum advanced distributor:

Solex h30/31 PICT ports:
left: vacuum-only distributor like our single port early bays.
rear, horizontal: vacuum retard for DVDA.
rear, angled up: vacuum advance for SVDA/DVDA.

I tried this and ran down town. It seems to be working better. Looking forward to running her all day tomorrow to see how she runs when all warmed up. Thanks again!

[chuckput]

Your distributor issue may be due to the drive gear being installed incorrectly at some point. It is not hard to get off because the gear is helical. You think that the shaft is going in at the proper position and then, because of the helical, the shaft rotates. If it really bothers you, you can make sure the engine is at TDC, pull the distributor, then pull the drive shaft/gear (there is a tool available that makes this easier), and reinstall the drive shaft compensating for the twist of the helical.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Also do a capacitance check on you plug wires and especially your connection between the coil and the dist. For some reasons we have had a lot of problems with this on several VW powered vehicles.

Lee