Well, with how often people seem to be having problems with their cars, maybe it's time for a positive thread. For a long time my car ('79 SA, 100% stock) had been running worse and worse, to the point it could barely accelerate.

So I decided to replace the "points", remembering something about them being high maintenance. Didn't have a feeler gauge with me at the time, but eventually I got it running smooth, and it's like new! This morning on the way to work it felt strong, ran it right up to the redline buzzer in top (only a 4 speed ).

The bad days really make you appreciate the days everything is working right!

 

Change to electronic ignition, you think its running good now

about a 30 minute mod

 

glad to hear it, but dude, that's a cardinal mistake ...

anytime i speak aloud about how great my car is running ... something breaks.

 

Same here, karma has it out for me, if I say my car is fine it will break down tomorrow, so my car is just "ok" there, doged a bullet

 

the other day my car felt way faster than normal.

short lived though.

fuel mixture problems.

 

Hmm my car runs good pretty much all the time... (knock on wood). Except my tach is sticking now....

 

Hey!! its great to hear good news!!!! there is just to much bad news on here!!

Well, my good news is that no one has stolen my wheels or car yet. LOL Knock on wood.....

 

Hey, i got some good news. well it is good news to me. i got the engine out of my se and had a fairly easy time taking it apart. no problems but haven't decided to clean the parts yet

 

Purchase an inexpensive Tach/Dwell meter (probably less than $30), and set your points according to dwell. This is more accurate than using feeler gages. I only use the feeler gage for the initial install of new points.

Oh-yeah, duel points.....hmmmm.

Anyway, I've owned several VW engines, all mechanical advance point distributors, and all ran like champs. My boat also has a point distributor and it works great. The only thing is that they require more maintenance. On my VWs I always checked the dwell after adjusting the valves and idle speed.

Did you replace the electrical condensor too? Pretty good habit when replacing the points.