1970? bus to dune buggy

[danthemetalman]

Hi guys new to your forum.
Im all googled out by now. I picked up a old bus. I assume its a 1970 something. I have extremely limited knowledge of the vw engines.
So i chopped the bus up, turned it into a dune jumper, but in the build ive had a few hiccups and hope that somebody here can help.
Engine id tag. Mine is SFCJR217409 and ive looked everywhere trying to identify what engine it is. Cant find any ref to a SF engine. Or which characters identify the engine.
Im operating under the assumption its a 2lt. It does have a twinport.
Reason being im trying to problem solve why spark plugs last around 20 min.(have new points condensor leads coil plugs. But its throwing plugs like crazy. Completely dead. Any input would be great.
And didbthis engine come with a alternator or generator.
Please guys need some advice

[retrovan]

Hi,

Welcome here on the forum.

If you built the pipe car, please supply us with some Photo's, as we are all addicts here, and the only fix that still works, are photo's, lot and lots of photo's.

So please start a project thread, and give it to us, we can take all you give.

The reason you cooking your plugs could be that the coil you use is a modern coil, that has been made to work with a resistor, and is now giving to high a voltage to the plug, carboning them up internally.(burning inside)

Herman

[Dawie]

"SF" pre-fix means "South Africa/Uitenhage". "CJ" stands for 2L type 4 engine, 'R" means that at some time in it's life it was reconditioned by VWSA.

[Tony Z]

Welcome.

Herman, the low resistance coil doesnt kill the plugs, it kills the points and condenser.

Dan, I suspect you are running LRP fuel and that is killing your plugs. Convert to unleaded and you should be fine unless somebody in the past butchered your heads and replaced the stock valve seats with cast iron seats (which doesnt seem logical, but you never know).

I can also assume that you changed the carbs to a different type and you might be running pretty rich, too rich.
Or, your plugs are too "cold" and you should be running a hotter plug, or visa versa.

We need more details to help you

[danthemetalman]

Thanks guys. Taking the bug for a test run today. Packed lotsa spare plugs.lol.
I will start a proper build thread with loads of photos soon.
Thanks for the advice so far

[retrovan]

..
Herman, the low resistance coil doesnt kill the plugs, it kills the points and condenser. ....

Totally agreed, but if you run a Resistance coil with out the resistance, the out put voltage goes sky high.

Same as running a 6 volt coil on 12 volt.

May even have a 6 volt coil on now. ??

Only later will it kill the points and condenser......

Rich fuel will foul up the plug, and can be washed out again and working again. but high voltage will kill plug permanent.

Herman

[Bugger]

So haws this project doing ?