I'd appreciate some insights here:
Question #1: I was looking through the '39 manual and it said to "open" the idle adjustment screw 1/2 to 1 full turns. When I took my carb apart to clean it I counted how many turns this screw was out from a fully seated position and it was 4.5 full turns out. Apparently that's way, way, too much. Agreed? I'm not sure if it will fix my problem but it's worth a shot. Am I understanding it correctly that a good initial setting is between 1/2 and 1 full turns out from a fully seated position?
Question #2: I removed the distributor to spin the oil pump gear below. I tried to reinstall the distributor exactly as I took it out, but maybe I didn't, or maybe it wasn't in right to begin with. I haven't found anything that describes how to ballpark the timing without the engine running. I suppose you can just line up the flywheel timing mark and make sure the rotor is pointed towards the correct spot on the distributor cap, but isn't there something better? On Volkswagens we set the timing statically by hooking a test light up to the small coil to distributor wire. With the ignition on, you rotate the engine by hand and adjust the distributor so that the test light turns on precisely when the timing marks align. I see no reason I couldn't do the same in this instance, does anyone? Also, I haven't found much about what timing mark is correct. It sounds like the little BB in the flywheel should align with the pointer, but most information seems to be for later models and I'm wondering if it's the same. Is the BB the correct timing mark for this 216 '39? And if so, how many degrees before or after TDC is it?
Thanks all.
Dan
