Briggs&Stratton, VW, MGB

o.k.. I hope you can follow the logic here..
My son's go cart motor had trouble. By running it lean, I overheated an exhaust valve and maybe the seat too.
Yesterday, I was stranded at work by the gap on my 74 VW Thing distributor. It closed for no obvious reason. Without tools, I was able to bend the adjustment side of the points alittle so it would open. The gap is bigger than it should be but the motor runs and seems to have more power than before. I bought new points, cap, rotor, and condensor but have not put them in. I like the power I now have but am worried. Do I just have a hotter spark because the arc is bigger? Is there something going on here due to the bigger gap? What damage should I expect if I leave it as is? I realize that this is not the VW phorum but I have my 74 B that could use a tad extra pep and what's the harm in running it with a slightly bigger gap at the points? Thanks! I posted it to the VW Thing digest too but they are mostly stuck on using Pertronix and other ignition options instead of points. Let me know if I need to clerify the content above. It was not easy to phrase.

Bob,
You won't hurt anything if you want to try running that way. Whats more than likly happening is that with the points set wider, aka bigger gap when on the lobe of the cam, it means their actually set closer to the cam. What this means is that, unless you've re-set it, your timing is now more advanced that it was. Try setting you points correctly, and adjusting your advance a little more BTDC, and see if that doesn't give you the same result.
H.

So the size of the gap does not affect the amount of charge created across the arc?

No, points gap affects points dwell, each degree of dwell affects the igniton timing one degree. Don't worry about points dwell, you get plenty close enough with a feeler guage. Just gap the points properly, set the timing about 5 degrees furter advanced than recommended and you'll end up with about the same performance you have with the bent points. If she pings on hi-test gas, back the timing down a little at a time untill she doesn't.

What may have happened is your points were running at a closed more than recommended gap and you set things right, hence the greater power.
JDW is correct: set the points correctly (well, fudge .001 or 2 to account for wear) and work from the timing.
Did I ever tell you about the time I had to run a VW Bus across the desert of Baja, coast to coast on 3 cylinders? Oh.

Don't get me started. I've seen compressors built with VW motors, 3 cyls good, one pumping air. I drove my first car (a 69 K Ghia) on 3 cyls for awhile, went 4 months with no battery, seriously. Got a guy's stranded 59 Bug going by bypassing the fuel pump and letting gravity feed the fuel from tank to carb for about 15 miles. My brother helped his friends bring a VW bus back from Woodstock (yes, the first) by removing the rear lid and hanging out the cargo door (since the accel cable broke). He handled the carb as they yelled back to him. My wife got our 67 bug up on 2 wheels(the passenger side) when I was teaching her how to drive a stick. The list goes on.

My son and I are building a para-cycle of sorts.
Based on the powered parachutes of today, we are building our own with an adult-trike for a frame. The motor sits between the rear wheels(where the basket usually does). This has been done before with a recumbent bike for a frame, but never the way we are.