Flare-up at base of distributor

[deerio]

I was looking around the engine bay today while I was trying to diagnose some carb flooding issues and while at idle, I noticed a flare-up that appeared a few times originating from the base of the distributor.

It was brief, basically a small flame would ignite and go away in a fraction of a second then happen again less than a minute later. It's seems to have stopped but it's got me worried that something is up.

All this just in time for my planned rebuild of the distributor!

[frapjap]

Weird! I wonder if you have a fuel leak somewhere? Or possibly a crack where the distributor goes into the block?

[Li'l Truckie]

Deerio,

Wow, never heard of a flame from the distributor area. I'm sort of at a loss as fuel system is on the opposite side. They only thing I can think of is you have a bad ground somewhere in your distributor or a bad spark plug wire. Therefore you might have an electrical arch and not necessarily a flame due to a fuel leak or fuel source.

Let me know if you need and pieces parts for the rebuild and I'll help you out on where to get them locally - like the hardware store plumbing section.

Andy

[difrangia]

Same confusion here in that the fuel system is completely on the other side of the engine room. That electric fuel pump that you posted about. Where is it located and do the fuel lines pass anywhere on the right side of the engine block on their way to the carb? Weird stuff; yes.

Steve

[deerio]

Andy, funny you mention a spark plug wire issue because the #1 cylinder plug wire happened to be at the base of the distributor at the time and I moved it because of the flames! Since then I haven't seen any flare-ups... So I'm starting to think you pinpointed it right there!

Steve, regarding the fuel pump: it's mounted right by the gas tank and the fuel line runs on the driver's side of the engine all the way to the carb. Because of the recent carb flooding issue, I'm probably going to end up with a pressure regulator. It's strange that the system worked just fine before.

[Li'l Truckie]

Deerio,

Might look into new plug wires. I know I had a plug wire that was grounding out on the oil dip stick when it touched. I was quite shocked, literally, when I realized this.

My follow on question is how does the engine run? Does it miss/run uneven when it archs/shoots the flame? Might pull the #1spark plug wire and see if there is any difference in how it runs and idles.

Also from your write up, I'd recommend checking the lenght of your wires and cut them to the correct length. They should not hang down or be twisted around each other.

Fuel pump is in the correct position back by the fuel tank as after market electrical fuel pumps are for pushing fuel and not pulling the fuel. Sounds you might need a regulator as the Nikki only needs 3-5 psi of fuel pressure. Just put this on the fender well if the original fuel line is still plumbed through the front left fender well.

Andy

[difrangia]

I keep a small fire extinguisher in all my cars. Recommend this for all older vintage cars. Price of a little fire extinguisher is nothing compared to the price in investment and possible heartbreak in the loss of a historical vehicle.

I'm an old air cooled VW nut from way back and if you've had any experience in old beetles, Burnt deck lids are something you've seen before.

Steve

[deerio]

Andy, I'll check to see how it runs after pulling the #1 plug. At the moment however it actually sounds like it's running rather well as is... I do plan on replacing the plug wires during the time I take out the distributor for a tune up.

Regarding the fuel pressure regulator, based on what I read from the service manual and after conversion, it looks like the mechanical fuel pump runs about 2-2.3 PSI so I'll shoot for 2-3 once I get one ordered and installed.

Steve, haha I'm actually a nurse (and specialize in burns and pediatrics) so the first thing I did was made sure I had a fire extinguisher in the truck the moment I got it home! Burns are no joke!