VW Archives - Page 13 of 17 -

It’s All About the Carb

September 8, 2013December 21, 2015 Drew

All weekend – I tinkered, I read, tinkered and adjusted some more, read some more… This is what I did all weekend. So far, I have learned a crazy amount of information about how VW carburetors work, and I have adjusted and tinkered with every available aspect of the devilish Bocar 34Pict-3 that sits atop my 1974 Super Beetle bastard of an engine. Finally, Sunday evening, the bus starts right up, idles smoothly, warms up, keeps on idling, shifts into gear cleanly, and most importantly – doesn’t die every time I come to a stop – Success!

But, like everything with this crazy bus, there is more to the story. After all my efforts this weekend, I have determined that the carb has a somewhat large vacuum leak coming from the heat riser gaskets, the intake manifold gaskets, and/or the throttle plate bushings – yes I learned all of these fun and interesting terms this weekend – I’m just cool like that! To compensate for the additional air flowing into the system from these leaks, I have backed out the idle adjust screw on the right side of the carb, thus adding more fuel to keep the fuel/air mix balanced. It’s a temporary fix at best, but it does keep the engine running smoothly when I let of the gas or come to a stop. I am thinking that I will order a carb rebuild kit, or potentially even a full replacement unit eventually; but I’ll drive it as is in the mean time.

In addition to my carb fun, I also replaced the fuel filter – the old filter has usually been empty before starting up the bus – when I loosened the clamps and pulled the hose off – oops! Of course the thing is actually full this time, and I just dumped a decent amount of gas all over the garage floor. I rushed to grab the oil pan just in time to catch the last drop as it rolled off the side of the engine. Great, just great! I cleaned it up as best I could; it didn’t leave a stain, and actually looks like it cleaned the garage floor a little – I’ll have to remember that next time I go on a cleaning spree – just kidding!

Finally, my copy of the massive, venerable Bentley Workshop Manual for the bus came in. This thing was expensive, and is the book that everyone refers to on the forums when they actually solve a problem. It helped me learn about the carb, and has detailed instructions/ photos/ diagrams for every minute aspect of the bus – looks like I just got some more light reading!

An Idle Mind…

September 2, 2013December 21, 2015 Drew

I kept tinkering with the engine today. I tried a few more settings on the carburetor jets, and re-adjusted the fast idle cam screw. I’ve also noticed that slightly rotating the distributor to change the ignition timing has a big difference on the idle performance. Technically I should be timing my 009 distributor to 30 degrees after top dead center (TDC) with a timing light at full RPMs, but those lights are like $50… instead I’ll adjust this thing VW style by turning it clockwise/ counter-clockwise as the engine is running until the engine sounds the best.

I’ve got it running fairly well, and it will stay idling if I give it a push or two of gas. Still dies if I’m driving and come to a stop, but I’m getting better at catching it before it turns completely off. I was also able to confirm that the speedo is working – Sweet! I think I am at a point where I can’t keep tinkering with one thing or another on the engine – I’m going to do another full tune-up (and replace the plugs & points), and go from there. Also, I’ve noticed that one of the pushrod tubes is leaking more than it was before – they sell spring loaded replacements that can be installed w/o pulling the engine – I’ll look into getting that project done sooner than later.

Happy Labor Day!

Uncategorized, VW

Another Project Done

September 1, 2013December 20, 2015 Drew

Speedometer works. At least I think it does; I don’t really know because the stupid bus engine won’t stay running well enough for me to drive around, but the speedo needle moves when I spin the wheel! I took a break from the somewhat frustrating work of getting the engine to idle, and did a quick little project to get the speedo working.

You’ll notice the picture above is showing 5 miles per hour. Thats pretty good, but I really wanted to show 10 – so I stood there spinning the left front tire as fast as I could, and then quickly grabbed the camera to take a pic of the speedometer… but I’m using a “fancy” camera that takes “nice” pictures – whatever, the point is I couldn’t get the thing to focus fast enough to take a picture before the speed went down to 5mph. You’ll just have to believe me… it was at 10…

To get to this point, I spent an hour trying to feed the cable through the dash parcel tray, through a hole in the front of the bus, along the bottom frame, and through a hole in the middle of the driver’s side front wheel spindle. Whew, finally got that done – but when I jack up the wheel and spin it, the cable doesn’t move – it’s this little metal cable that is supposed to spin with the wheel, but its not moving! I’m pissed – yet another bus project that doesn’t go as planned – I put the stupid cable in the stupid hole, why doesn’t it work! Oh wait, I just re-read the instructions, and I have to put the cable through the wheel dust cap before it spins – ok NOW it spins. Success! The bus now functions slightly better than it did this morning, and the speedo should help me know when to shift gears if/when I can actually get the thing on the road. Another project done!

Engine Troubles

August 30, 2013December 21, 2015 Drew

Engine is still running poorly. I’ve spent a few nights this week trying to get the engine to idle properly and not overheat – I’m not quite there yet. This is what is happening: Engine starts quickly (better than last week, but I still have to pump the gas pedal 2 – 3 times before turning the key). Engine fires up – if its starting cold, runs for couple minutes until warm – if its already warm, runs for about 5 seconds before idle slows and it dies… Unless I goose the gas a bit. It varies how many times I have to lightly rev the engine, but eventually it settles and will idle somewhat roughly. If I put it in gear and go anywhere, the engine will start to die as soon as I press in the clutch and come to a stop – unless I can get stopped quick enough and goose the pedal a few times. I’m getting pretty good at keeping the engine going, and when it does die, it will start right back up. It also seems to be running fairly hot. Bottom line is – I got me some engine problems, and they needs a fixin.

I’ve been trying to learn myself about the carburetor, and I’m getting more comfortable messing with it. Eventually I will either rebuild it, or get a new one; right now, I just want to make sure it is working. First thing I did was check the automatic choke. To start, I loosened the fast idle screw (name is deceptive, doesn’t actually have anything to do with setting idle speed). As I turned the screw, the screwdriver with adjustable head slipped – Clink!… Great, just great! I dropped the little screwdriver head somewhere on the engine, can’t find it, oops. Once again, the little steel pick, that I used to get the broken key out of the ignition, came in handy – I found the little screwdriver head and kept going. Ok everything adjusted up, bus runs but still dies at idle, still seems to run hot. I’m going to keep messing with it, will try to reset the timing and check the valves again. I’m also thinking about replacing the fuel pump and filter set up, and replacing the fuel lines.

Oh and I managed to break this big steel c-clamp trying to get one of the rusty side mirror bolts out – bolt 1, Drew 0.

Broken C Clamp

Its Show Time!

August 25, 2013December 21, 2015 Drew

Hot, Stressful, Interesting, Exciting, Awesome. We brought the bus to its first VW show today! The event has hosted by the Harsh Winters VW Club, and took place down in Joliet (about 45 minutes down the road). I trailered the bus there, and went with a friend from work who has an amazing, fully restored 23 window deluxe.

The fun actually started on Saturday. I spent some time cleaning the bus, and practiced reversing out of the garage, and then pulling back in. By the end of the day I was able to shift easily into first, and keep the bus running by lightly pumping the gas as I came to a stop. I picked up the same U-haul trailer that we used to bring the bus up from Florida – except this time I had to drive it on there myself, and I wouldn’t be able to make the same mess of things when I got to the show!

When we got there, I was a ball of nerves. Keep in mind that I have barely driven this thing around, and the last time it was on the trailer I almost crashed the thing… now I’m pulling the trailer into a parking lot full of pristine bugs, busses, and small children- WTF am I thinking! Thankfully, my practice paid off – nothing untoward happened when backing off the trailer, and I was even able to reverse into the spot designated by one of the staff members. So now we are at the show, lets make a day of it!

We wandered around, met lots of people who were all interesting, genuine, and awesome, saw lots of amazing busses, bugs, ghia’s, things, etc. Noelle bought some sweet little glass magnets that go great attached to the inside of the bus, and I was able to chat with a number of people that might potentially be able to help me get some of the bigger projects done. I even won a tire cleaning kit as a door prize – heck yeah! Overall, a great day – it was very hot, but the people were awesome. Unfortunately I didn’t win “Best Rust Bucket”, but theres always next time. I stalled the engine halfway back up the trailer, and needed a little pushing help, but I’m getting much more confident in my driving abilities, and I’m so excited to get out there on the road!