newbie help with engine

bmarleyrulz · 30 July 2009, 06:29

I got a 71 super beetle autostick a little over a year ago now and have not done a thing with it other than look at it in the garage. I have some time off from work and want to get it running so I can drive the car finaly. I know the PO changed out the spark plugs and wires and said he did a tune up but said he thinks the carb needed adjusting if not rebuilt. I got a carb rebuild kit and was planning on takleing it this weekend. I don't know all that needs to be replaced and was looking for some advice. I know it is a 34pic3 with an 009.
I read in another thread that i shouldn't be able to sqeeze the vacume lines, which I can. Should I replace them? anyway here is a pic of what I have to work with. Whatcha think

volkenstein · 30 July 2009, 08:50

Hi,
Well as luck would have it you should have a look in the "autostick" section down the bottom of the forum index! Talk about timely

. As a hint..your Carb to CV vacuum line is in the wrong place.

If you can squeeze the 12mm bore hose, they should be replaced by quality hose (hydraulic or Belmetric's RH12W).

Unclamped fuel filter...fireball potential on your first drive

.

Air cleaner warm air hose missing..not too serious but check whether you have your stove pipe piece there.

You also should block off, or attach the shroud hosing as it is missing. Hmmm..Got a thermostat? It's under the car, on the engine block, passenger side just under the pushrod tubes.

Since I owe Bookwus a piccie, I'll take another to show you what a nearly stock '71 AS engine bay should look like.

Enjoy for now
Volkenstein

volkenstein · 30 July 2009, 14:13

Me again,

Here's a semi stock engine bay pic for you :

This is what the thermostat should look like :

HTH
Volkenstein

Bookwus · 30 July 2009, 14:16

Hiya marley,

OK.......if the object here is merely to get the engine running, I'd go about it this way..........

First thing to do is adjust your valves. You'll need to adjust your valves anyway and this will let you know if the crank and other internals are moving freely.

Remove the plugs, check their condition and gap, pour about a tablespoon of 30 weight motor oil in each combustion chamber. Replace plugs.

Check to make sure everything is OK under the distributor cap and set the points.

Static time the engine.

At this point, IF your battery is good and if gas is getting to the combustion chambers you should get a start. If you are not getting a start, then it's time to take a closer look at the fuel feed and carburetor situation.

68autobug · 30 July 2009, 18:27

Hi
Two things... You need the heater fresh air hoses...
You cannot run the engine with these missing....
and its best to replace all the vacuum hoses.
its hard to tell if they are cracked because of the cotton covering.

cheers

LEE

bmarleyrulz · 30 July 2009, 20:23

I have the bug me video and will do a tune up this weekend. Adjust the valve, oil change... Do I need to drain the gas and put new in if the car has been sitting a little over a year or should it be ok?
Bookwus- The car ran when I parked it a year+ ago. It just ran rough and backfired.
volkenstein- Clamped the fuel filter. Changed the Carb to CV vacuum line to the port on the right side. I think that is correct

What size hose is the preheat intake hose? The crankcase vent hose is very cracked. I think it is 13mm hose is that right

Quotenot too serious but check whether you have your stove pipe piece there.

Not sure what the stove pipe piece is. If it is something the hose would connect to under the tin, then no.

QuoteYou also should block off, or attach the shroud hosing as it is missing. Hmmm..Got a thermostat?

The line is very frayed at the top where it would connect. can I simply cut it down and attach it with a clamp or should I replace the hose? As far as the thermostat. No, it was not there. didnt know it was missing. I'm quesing that is not a good thing and it needs to be there. Can I get that from like wolfsburgwest or cip1? Thanks for all the help and advice

volkenstein · 31 July 2009, 02:38

Bob,
Lot's of things now that'll take your tinkering time up. You might want to break it up into manageable chunks.

Year old fuel? Drain it all. It's past it's shelf life and may be "congealing" in nooks, crannies and other small places.

From your second piccie, the broken hose sitting near your aircleaner but on the shroud and going to the right is part of the emissions system. Specifically the charcoal canister system for fuel vapour venting.
Mike (Bookwus) can fill you in on the gory details. Australia (where I am) did not get this system.

You can trim the oil filler breather to aircleaner hose hose a bit, won't hurt.

The shroud hoses and the aircleaner to stove piece are 50mm and I can see you have the spigots that poke up through the breastplate tin for the shroud hoses. CIP1 is your friend (or whoever) for those 3. Worm drive clamps will do the job of holding them on.

The "stove piece" pipe pokes up through the tinware just where you have written "cracked,I think". The other end is meant to bolt onto one of your exhaust studs and the other bracket fits in as part of tinware around the draft tube area (steel pipe from the oil filler to/through the tinware). PITA +++ to get it all "just so". IIRC CIP1 have them too.

Missing thermostat now. You really need a NOS German or German second hand one (that works!). The new style Mexican ones will "fail closed", whereas German ones "fail open". I'm referring to moveable shutters that the Thermostat controls in your shroud. "fail closed" means when those mexican ones fail they shut off the air being blown around your heads/cylinders.

This leads me to my next thermostat related thing to check. Reach around behind the shroud (right hand side in your pic) and see if you can feel the link bar for the shutters and the spring. Someone may have done the right thing and wired the shutters open since the thermostat was removed.

I'm fairly certain you'll need to trawl a junkyard or TheSamba classifieds for the shutter/link bar assembles and the thermostat bits 'n' pieces. Surf the 'net and see what pops up.

HTH for now
Volkenstein

Bookwus · 31 July 2009, 04:28

Hiya marley,

Following up on Sean's advice.................

That hose (a 12 mm) hooked to your fanshroud at the 1:00 position leads through the right hand firewall and under the rear fender to the emissions canister. You should also find another 12 mm hose leading back from that canister leading back through the firewall and up to the air filter. The idea here is a simple one...........forced air from the cooling fan in the fanshroud travels down through the hose to the emissions canister. The canister collects loose hydrocarbons from the fuel system (there is another smaller line leading from that canister up forward to the gas tank). The air supplied by the fanshroud both helps draw those hydrocarbons back to the canister and then "flush" the canister of those hydrocarbons and route them to the carburetor (via the air filter) for burning. Actually, a very efficient system when in good repair and does not use any horsepower. It's a good idea to have it in good shape and not very hard to get it there.

The "stove pipe" piece of tinware sits so that it pokes up through the rear tin in what you should be seeing as an empty hole. Not a very good picture here, but you can just see the stove pipe peeking up from its hole at the bottom of this picture............

It is a good idea to have it in place for two reasons. One, it collects warm air and forces it up and into the air horn of the air filter to do the pre-heat thing. Two, if it is not there you have a big and very undesireable gap in your tinware and that drives engine temps up.

While Sean could be dead-on about the flapset connecting bar being wired open in front of your fanshroud, it's been my experience that if the flapsets have been left in the fanshroud, nothing at all has been done with the connecting bar. That's because (besides POs being lazy) the connecting bar should have a spring pulling it (and the flapsets) into the open position. Check for the presence of the connecting bar and then check for the spring pulling it over towards the left hand side. If the bar is there and there is no spring then you must wire it open to the left.

bmarleyrulz · 31 July 2009, 05:47

Ok, more to do than I thought but that's better than finding out about these things on the side of the road. Thanks for all the advice and info thus far, ya'all are awesome. Anyway, the thermostat.
I reached back behind the shroud and there is a bar there but I don't know if it is in the open postision or not. The bar is far to the pass. side but I'm not sure what the flaps are like. I could feel a wire on the passanger side if the bar that led into the shroud but didn't feel any flaps. There was also a wire of the same thickness leading tward the top of the shroud.

Quotethe connecting bar should have a spring pulling it (and the flapsets) into the open position. Check for the presence of the connecting bar and then check for the spring pulling it over towards the left hand side.

Is the left side the driver side or pass side? Not sure if it is open or not. I took a picture if it helps at all

volkenstein · 31 July 2009, 07:17

Bob,
Bit of a UFO shot

. The flaps assembly is inside the shroud. The bar connects to a spigot at either end that moves left or right.
It does sound like they have been wired open by your description.

The spring on the bar hooks up to a hole in the passenger side of the bar and the other end does indeed go to the shroud (low). I have no idea what the other thing is unless you've grabbed something to do with the throttle.

Go here : http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=322362

HTH
Volkenstein

Bookwus · 31 July 2009, 07:58

Hiya marley,

Determining which side is which side can get a little confusing in a forum like this with an international audience. Let's do this............name the sides of the car as if you were standing behind the car and looking at it. That way the left side would be the driver's side in the USA while the right side would be the driver's side in GB and Australia.

So, that retaining spring for the flapset connecting bar should pull the connecting bar to the left side of the car. In your picture it looks as if the spring has been replaced with a wire holding the connecting bar..............but as Sean mentioned, I'm not absolutely sure that's what I'm seeing.

Sunday69 · 31 July 2009, 20:28

Hey guys! I also need to add a pre-heater hose to my AS. Does the 1-3/4 inch fit for a 50mm? I can't seem to find 50mm on cip1.

Bookwus · 31 July 2009, 21:29

Hiya Sun,

This is what you are looking for...................

http://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=VWC%2D028%2D129%2D087%2DAGR

bmarleyrulz · 01 August 2009, 19:26

I ordered all the new hoses and such. Started to change the oil and fount that my drain plate was bent a little right by one of the nuts, making it so that I couldn't get a socket over it. I can get it off with pliers no problem but should I wait to change the oil till I have a new drain plate or not worry about it? Also, I'm looking around for a new thermostat and found a couple for sale but don't know if they are still good or not. Is it just luck of the draw buying from someone used or is there way to tell if it is in working condition without actually holding the thermostat? Thanks again for any responses

Bookwus · 01 August 2009, 20:34

Hiya marley,

Drain plates are rather notorious for warping under the (too much) pressure often put on those acorn nuts. Your old plate is probably OK as long as it is flat and not distorted around the holes. I like to sand the mating surface with 220 grit sandpaper on a pane of glass to insure it being flat.

Thermostats............ some online vendors are selling Type 1 thermostats for between $75 and $100. If you go for a used thermostat (and there are a couple of different heat ranges - you'd be looking for Wahler marked 65 -70) you can dip the thermostat into very hot water. If it's good it will expand and then (when taken out of the water) contract back to its original shape. Exposing the thermostat to heat is the only way I know to test it.