Hi. I am new to the forum. In 1998 I turned my mothers first car, a 1973 VW Beetle Autostick, which had been sitting for roughly 20 years into a daily driver. I replaced or fixed anything and everything without any prior mechanical knowledge and a shop manual. Some things I did right, some things I did wrong. Other than the obscurity of parts, and loving the technical concept of the AS, I did not fully understand the uniqueness of what I was working on.
That being said I ran that car through four years of college back and forth between Long Island and Albany without the slightest problem. Over the years I changed from the original carb which I am not certain as to model, to a 30 pict 1, to a progressive, back to the 30 that sits there now. Fast forward to 2010 I am ready to put my old AS on the road and the first thing I'd like to do is purchase the right carb. What should I be running? Wheres the best place to purchase? at the best price? I am not looking to spend a fortune on the perfect carb, but I do need to zero in on the closest match. I am out of tune with the parts market and I need a refresher.
Thank you in advance for assistance and advice. I am glad I found this forum.
Hiya LIA,
Welcome aboard! This is the single best place to get information on your AutoStick.
Your engine in a 73 should be (or was originally) a dual port 1600. If you are now running a 30 series carburetor on that dual port manifold you will also be running an adaptor plate between the carb and the manifold. What you really need is to remove both the present carburetor and the adaptor plate and install a 34PICT3.
Specifically (if you want to stay true to 1973) you'll need a Solex 34PICT3 wearing this VW parts number: 113 129 029T. It should be sporting a flange number of 281-4. Using those two numbers will assure you of getting the correct carburetor for your car. There are other 34PICT3s which can sit in the 029T's place and do a satisfactory job. For more information on possible other carburetors take a look for the thread entitled "AS Carburetors - The Basics" in the Technical Information forum (at the bottom of the index page for VWAR).
Where to get this little item? You cannot buy one new. They are not made anymore. And you DEFINITELY want a Solex (stay away from Bocar, Brosol, and EMPI - and anything else but Solex for that matter) that's set up for your AutoStick. Contact kiefernet over at the Samba. He (Keith) is THE carburetor rebuilder and he may very well have exactly what you need. If not, he can work with you to rebuild a carburetor for your car. Expect to pay something over $100 for this. But whatever it is you have to pay, a carburetor from Keith is WELL worth the money.
Yes, there is an adapter plate in place, and it is certainly a 1600. I will take a look at the AS Carb thread as well. I appreciate the advice regarding Samba and will reach out to Kieth. Thank you for taking the time to respond.
I should also mention that I changed to the ignition to a Compufire Dis-IX and the Distributor to a 009 and gapped the plugs to .050. Any thoughts on this ? I believe the engine ran incredibly well for some with this ignition system. Being that the 009 does not have vacuum advance, should I still be looking for a 34 Pict 3 ?
I double checked the current carb. It is a Solex H30 Pict1. Is there any demand for this carb? I would also like to sell the Progressive, which I assume is a Weber, pricing seems to be all over the map on these.
On the Samba I could not find Kieth. Do you have contact information, email?
I found KrustyKarbsRestoration... under the name Kieth, is this the same?
Thank You.
Hiya LIA,
You want to be looking for a rebuilt Solex 34PICT3 AND a new distributor.
The 009 has a couple of inherent problems that really make it an overall unsuitable distributor for street driving. It is a distributor that was designed to be mounted on VW's industrial engines back in the 50s. It was never used by VW for an automotive application. It has an advance curve that is all out by about 3000 RPM and this makes it a wonderful distributor for racing. Think: sitting at the line, revving the engine up over three grand and popping the clutch. Away you go! And since it is mechanical advance only one does not have to be concerned with the vacuum can. Very nice for racing but not too suitable for a daily driver...............unless you are tearing out from every stoplight!
And the 009 has a well-documented history of not playing well with the 34PICT3. Many have tried tweaking the 34PICT3 (run it richer - put a rivet in the butterfly - etc) when the real -problem is the 009.
For the correct distributor for your car take a look again at the Technical Information forum and look for the Distributors Basics threads. Or you might want to look at an SVDA from aircooled.net. I have run that particular distributor in place of the OEM and found it to be very satisfactory. It gets great reviews from its users.
Your 30PICT1 was a limited (one year only? 1968) application. If in good shape somebody should be interested in it.
This should get you to Keith..............
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=27
I had Keith, (known as Keifernet on the Samba) rebuild my autostick carb a few months ago. When the carb came back it was a piece of art and it ran so great. The car never ran as well before, now it is perfect. He was fast, very reasonable in price, and he actually bolts each carb he rebuilts onto a shop VW engine and sets up the carb for you. Just unpack it and bolt it on.
Check out his feedback on the Samba, he has a well deserved excellent reputation.
I also run an Aircooled SVDA and I have nothing but good things to say about it. It is so nice to have suppliers/rebuilders that understand our needs and take pride in their work.
I second that Keith is the man when it comes to VW carbs. He just rebuilt my Solex AS carb- rejetted for a 1776 rebuikd and also rebuilt my stock DVDA as a SVDA. He did a superb job on both and very reasonable. Any questions he gets right back to you. Wouldn't hesitate to recommend him to any VW enthusiast. He also rebuilt a back up 009 and Brosal carb I had.
Rick
New Jersey
Thanks for all the information. I just emailed Keith. Does anyone here know if the SVDA will work with the Compufire Distributorless ignition ? I have been very pleased with its performance in all types of weather/conditions. I have always felt that my carb arrangement was the cause of most of my problems. Also what doe the Flange Number refer to? Is that pertinent to the manifold?
Thank You again. The response here has been tremendous. Most people look at me cross eyed when I indicate I have an autostick.. Its amazing how new cars have autosticks in the form of tiptronic etc. and we have had these in VW's since the 60's/70's.
Hiya LIA,
Quote from: LIAutostick on 29 April 2010, 04:13 .......Does anyone here know if the SVDA will work with the Compufire Distributorless ignition?
There should be no problems.
Quote.......Also what doe the Flange Number refer to? Is that pertinent to the manifold?
The flange number denotes the specific carburetor for a given application. For example, in your year of production, 1973, there were actually two AutoStick 34PICT3s. One was for California Only cars, the other was for Federal Cars.
I've found that the flange number is actually a better identifying device than the VW parts number. That's because the VW parts number was embossed on a tag that was affixed to the carburetor by one of the top-to-body screws on the carb. That tag has often gone missing by this date and the flange number remains. Then too one can distinguish the variants of the manual carburetor by flange number.
It has no direct reference to the manifold.