Setting up a stock carb.

[bill]

I live in Grand Haven and am finishing up a restoration of a '73 Super Beetle. The motor is stock, right down to the rebuilt, stock carb. Is there anyone in the area familiar with setting up the carb? I do not need a bunch of suggestions, the internet has satisfied that. I need someone, maybe in the business, who can drive the car and know that a particular jet needs to be changed, and has a supply of them. I like the car, but it just does not drive as "crisp" as it could.

[drwingtipshoes]

Yeah, I'd like to know this too! I have a spare engine I'm going to be swapping out this winter probably, but it came out of a Beetle or Super Beetle and I know Ghia carbs are jetted differently, I'm just not sure how.

[ghiastein]

Sorry Art but I researched carb jets very intensely last year. I was under the same impression Bus bigger heavier different jets right..... wrong. What I found out is that from the factory per Bentley Beetles, Ghia, and Buses of same year all have the same carbs and jets. I thought ok then people must have installed different jets to gain performance right. So to verify all of this I open up about 30-40 stock Solex Carbs of different designs and all of them had stock size jets per Bentley. The only difference in my checking was that sometimes the Pilot Jet was changed probably because it sometimes has a solenoid attached to it and needed to be replaced. Or its the only Jet on the Outside of the carb.

The mistake people usually make is that the Distributor has to match the Carburetor and the Carburetor has to match the engine. The 009 Distributor does not match anything.

[ghiastein]

Oct 20, 2010 19:16:40 GMT -5 bill said:

I live in Grand Haven and am finishing up a restoration of a '73 Super Beetle. The motor is stock, right down to the rebuilt, stock carb. Is there anyone in the area familiar with setting up the carb? I do not need a bunch of suggestions, the internet has satisfied that. I need someone, maybe in the business, who can drive the car and know that a particular jet needs to be changed, and has a supply of them. I like the car, but it just does not drive as "crisp" as it could.

If it was a 69/70 stock engine I am your man but I have never had good luck with the newer carbs.

[ghiastein]

If you want this helped me when I started really messing with aircooled VW's

www.vw-resource.com/vw-resource.com_non_ssl/procedures.html

[bill]

I have cruised all the websites, and everyone has their idea on how to fix. I have a stock carb and a vacumn advance distributor with a Petronix in it. I have timed the car with a light. When driving normal, the car bogs when you upshift. If you drive it like it's stolen, it runs great.

In my experience with other cars, their is usually one air/fuel screw to dial in. With the bugs, the seperate screws need to be finessed, and maybe that's my problem. I would love to find a member, or a garage in the area, who could drive it and identify the fix.

[MadMike]

I Know you "Purist" will be Pi$$ed ???but after playing with VW's for over 30+ years I've come to the conclusion That these motors are Greatly under carbed from the factory :oVw did this to act like a Governor ;D ;DThen Guys in general will install the dredded 009 with a stock carb and get a flat 'spot' or worse put a new Brazil Brosel POS ::)Combo and wunder why ther getting only 20mpg??? Some have LUCK with the center feed 2bbl IF you have manifold heat!! Or they think It runs great with K-duds/solex's/babywebers ect ???But have NEVER tried REAL carbs : the 40 Weber IDF's (NOT HPMX's or the problemed USA made ones)that are so tunable they can be run on anything from 1500-1915cc and get better Mileage +performance then the stock carb,But the average guy still thinks ther to hard to deal with(OMG I can't tune 1 let alone 2 ) ;D ;D well enough ranting,Now I know why MHarney took a break for a while ;D ;D ;D ;D

[ghiastein]

madmike I like to start my VW's on a cool morning and have them idle so smoothly when cold. I will take my choke over a hipo carb any day.

Um better than 30 mpg with my Ghia full metal car? Fiberglass does not count!!! Also my 3100 lbs Bus was hitting 23-25 mpg on the freeway at 60-65 mph. All with a 30PICT-2 carb and a 205T dizzy.

Sorry back on topic

[MadMike]

Fiberglass isn't as lite as most think I'm @ 1800 lbs,But the Aerodynamics help Just a tiny bit ;D ;D ;D,40 mpg @ 70-80mph 8-)Back on topic,My Carbs run fine when cold,a cpl pumps and it fires right up with out chokes Go stick your finger in the tail pipe on your cars an see if it comes out clean or sootie Don't burn your finger ;DYou can check mine anytime, short drive or all day it always clean

[clintonddk]

Sorry Mike, I not sticking my figures anywhere near your tail pipe, hard tellen where it has been ;D

[bill]

Mike, I'm sure you have a very lovely tailpipe, perhaps you can show it off sometime. The others are jealous, they think their tailpipes are nicer than yours.

We have strayed from the topic. I do not want to compare carbs or tailpipes, just want to know if there is a vendor or individual in the area who can readily diagnose carb issues. With all the bugs around, and all the dune climbing at Silver Lake, someone must be doing it right.

[MadMike]

Clinton, "Be Nice now" ;D ;D ;D ;D

[bren]

Bill:
In GR there is the German Auto Service. They had a show this summer. I did not make it there. Those that did were impressed. They might be able to diagnose your carb issue if you want to go to a formal shop.
Something to consider is going back to points as an experiment. I have heard of many folks having bad electronic units, including me. They do not always completely fail. Sometimes the work but very poorly. Just an idea for you.
-Bren

[MadMike]

What I was tring to imply was a clean tail pipe/exhast indcates a good tuned carb not some fuel wasting/Pig rich,plug fouling ect. ect, ;D ;D ;D

[81pumagtc]

Bill:

Just out of curiosity, what makes you think that your VW is not running correctly? '73 was not exactly the high water mark for drivability for any cars, and VW back then, because of the lack of horsepower, was somewhat behind the curve.

Mercedes Benz went from a 3.5 liter V8 to a 4.5 liter V8 to compensate for the loss of horsepower due to emissions, and VW did not have that option.

They were never particularly crisp when brand new...no cars were back then. Modern cars are much better.

If you have more than 60,000 miles, just buy a replacement carb and start with that. Don't waste your time attempting to rebuild a worn out carb. Metal wears and all of the parts in the world won't bring it back to stock.

VW's were inexpensive cars, and carbs were supposed to be replaced when they were worn out. It is usually far more expensive to re-bush throttle shafts, than to just replace the entire carbs.

Even though a carb may look new, (clean) it is not.

In my opinion, if you are going to spend money having someone work to tune your car, I would spend the extra money to have them start off with a new carb, rather than one that has been "rebuilt".

Dave