Starting hassles

[JohanSmith]

Hi guys

Complements of the season to all my fellow buggers.

I'm helping a friend sorting a few things on his bug. It was a 1600 tp, but both heads were cracked, so we changed it to an sp as he had enough spares to do so.

Put new barrel kit, intake manifold and changed the carb to a 31/30 pict.

The problem we now have is that it firstly did not want to start at all. I double checked all the wiring from the coil, ignition and the plug leads, but to no avail. Eventually, we got it to start, but only running on pistons 1 and 3, no fire at 2 and 4. Sometimes it starts, other times it does not.

Where have we gone wrong? Please help.

Thanks
Johan

[retrovan]

If she runs on two cylinders, then the timing should be right, the points to look at are;-
Valve timing on head 2 & 4.
Tappet setting on same head.
Two spark plug leads (2 & 4)turned around.
Crack in Distributor cap.
Air leak in manifold on head 2 & 4.

Herman

[Tony Z]

also double check that your plug leads are actually on the plugs - sometimes it feels like they are on but they arent.
Maybe you are unfortunate and got 2 dead spark plugs?
change the timing a little. Make a mark on the dizzy and clamp where it is now, then move it 5mm clockwise and try again, if it doesnt work, try going back to start and 5mm the other direction.

[JohanSmith]

Thanks Herman and Tony, she is purring like a kitten.....

The valve clearances were completely out, set them correctly and she starts first time, every time now.

[Tony Z]

good show
thanks for the feedback

[retrovan]

.
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Herman