Need help from the brain trust

I'd take the valve cover off on that side.  I'd check that push rods are operating correctly (aligned), that the rockers go up and down - with valves as you manually turn engine over.  Then I'd adjust the valves - that might show a broken/stretched valve stem - if one is way off. 

#3 exhaust used to be the one that went first on VW since the oil cooler blocked flow to it.  You want to catch a broken valve before it beats a hole in the piston and spreads shavings throughout your oil galleries and bearings.

Thanks Wolfgang!   I did pull off the valve cover and checked the valve clearance and the head bolts and all was good. 

I checked all the exhaust ports and all is good and tight.

I played some more with the carb linkage and idle and air adjustments to make sure they were in sync but not a lot changed.  

I worked a ton on VW engines in my high school and college days, but they were all had a single carburetor.  May be time to take it to some who know what they are doing😩.  

@Csquared

Chris, in light of all you mentioned, this may more than likely be an exhaust leak. Possibly from the area you originally suspected (#3).

Although the nuts on the exhaust port may seem tight, the gasket may be cracked or split. Only way to be certain is to remove exhaust and visibly check gaskets.

Hope you get this resolved without any major issue and back on the road! 

^^^^^^That!

And if it isn’t a blown exhaust flange gasket, I would look for a cruded up idle jet on that side.

Thanks Gents!

Gordon Nichols posted:

^^^^^^That!

And if it isn’t a blown exhaust flange gasket, I would look for a cruded up idle jet on that side.

And if it isn't either of those two, I'd check for that typical intake gasket suck(intake gasket failure).

Well my day got a lot worse!  I had some tools under the hood and pulled out while working on the carbs.   I cleaned everything up and decided to go a drive to see if anything improved.  

About two miles into the drive, on a nice downhill on a two lane road, the hood flew up, hung there for a second and then flew off the car!   I never fully closed the hood and the safety catch did’t hold  the load at 50 miles an hour.  Luckily there was no other damage other the hood itself.  And more importantly no one was hurt by the flying hood!  

I plan to call Henry tomorrow to see if I can buy a new hood.  This is all bad timing as the weather is just getting perfect!  Not the best was to spend my Birthday😩😡🤬

Csquared posted:

Well my day got a lot worse!  I had some tools under the hood and pulled out while working on the carbs.   I cleaned everything up and decided to go a drive to see if anything improved.  

About two miles into the drive, on a nice downhill on a two lane road, the hood flew up, hung there for a second and then flew off the car!   I never fully closed the hood and the safety catch did’t hold  the load at 50 miles an hour.  Luckily there was no other damage other the hood itself.  And more importantly no one was hurt by the flying hood!  

I plan to call Henry tomorrow to see if I can buy a new hood.  This is all bad timing as the weather is just getting perfect!  Not the best was to spend my Birthday😩😡🤬

Wow, you are lucky to have escaped with so little damage. Henry will get you fixed back up.  Maybe until then you could run as a superleggera?  Oh, and may your birthday proceed with better outcomes.

Sorry to hear about your hood.  A call to IM will help you. 

I forgot to latch mine once and the second one hung it to 50mph.  Wow, what a fright. 

It honestly doesn't look that beat up for flying thru the air.  The hinges can be rebonded in and any dings filled and repainted.  Your probably looking at $800 for replacement hood plus costly shipping. 

I wonder if Carey at Special Edition could fix it for you. He’s in Bremen, Indiana. 

http://www.rustytubs.com/porsc...-car-front-h356.html has replacement hood that fit most kit cars.  Exterior is $395 and it has to be bonded to the interior substructure piece which is $150 --- so $545 plus shipping from NV with "some assembly required."

I have an extra front CMC trunk lid in OEM black gel coat.  It has one very small chip (dime size on edge (as I recall) and is drilled for the hood handle.  PM me if interested. I'm in NW FL (just 12 miles west of Destin).  It has been stored in garage all these years.

Wolfgang, might have a point y0ou should look into it.  @Robert M  Now that is a great suggestion, to have an expert like Carey look at it.  I am sure they would do a bang up job fixing the hood up.  I mean you won't have to look at doing all the seams either which will reduce the work a lot. 

I would strongly recommend that you stick with IM for a new hood if you go that route.  Different makers will use different molds to produce their hoods and doors and one from Special Edition or Rusty Tubs (if available) probably will not fit precisely and will need a similar amount of fiddling with to make it match your IM body.

You old hood could be brought back to life, but without seeing and measuring it and pre-fitting it on the car to see if it is warped, I can't comment on how much work it might take.  A decent autobody shop used to working on Corvettes, or a boat shop that works on fiberglass mods would be able to tell you if your old hood is re-useable.

I have seen one other car that had the hood pop up like that, but while it destroyed the windshield, the hood stayed attached (more or less).  It still needed a bunch of work to repair it, but it eventually came through OK.  Merklin's body shop friend bought the car, spiffed it up and re-sold it a few years back.

Wolfgang and Gordon, thanks for your ideas and suggestions.   Theron gave the same advice, that is to get the damaged hood fixed.   I will check with some local shops that have experienced with corvettes/fiberglass and if they think it can be fixed  

Thanks to all for your help!

Good summary of issues to consider there Gordon.  

I would tape up the sides and refit the hood to see what I have to do.

Good idea!  I will place the hood in the opening to make sure it is not warped.  My only concern is making sure the mounting bracket are positioned properly when bonded back in place.  I am hope they will seat back in the original position. 

It should be a fairly easy open the fibreglass and reset the Angle bracket within the hood using minimal, quick glue, and testing it for hinge operation... then bonding it permanently.  

Finishing the edge might be the easiest step after that to a good FGlass man. 

I would give it a shot.  You never know, it may look worse than it is, all the damage seems to be on the inside, do you even need a repaint? Most likely but we can't see from here. 

 All the best in your repair journey ... 

P.S.  

BTW, I would ask @Alan Merklin to have a look at it I know he not at your door but he is pretty close to you and he could put it back together for you I am sure and he has a painter for you as well if that is practical. 

I enlarged the hood photos and surprisingly the damage is not too severe , it can be properly repaired. The metal that is bonded into the hood needs to be reset in place and is the most difficult thing to do, ( 3M Panel Bond adhesive is stronger than fiberglass )  but can be done as long as the repair shop have the car too.. All hoods needs to be fit to the actual car that being some taken off the outer edges to get the correct 3/16 gap and your hood already has that fit. IMHO I would take the car and hood to a local shop this way it will fit correctly when done. With the repair, paint etc . expect $650 to $900.  P' Msg. me if you have questions.

Follow the good Doctor's advice, and all will be well.

Thanks Alan!  I talked with a local shop today who is confident they can fix it.  I plan to bring it down tomorrow or Wednesday depending on the weather.   I’ll share an update once I have more info.   Thanks again for everyone’s help!!!

Well, good news.  I brought the car down today and he thinks it will be pretty easy to fix the hood!  

He also listened to the car for 10 seconds and said the head is loose on the #1 or #3 cylinder.  He pulled the engine this afternoon and found 2 two head bolts broken.   He going to pull both heads off, check the other studs and replace them with the standard studs if all the other look good or use all new chromoly studs.   He also going to fix a few oil leaks too so it should be leak free for a day or two!  

So far, so good!!

I worry a bit about the hood flying off when I use my Wardlow bra. It has a piece that slips over the end of the hood and it doesn't seem to latch quite as securely with that in place.

Honestly, I have often thought of having a safety cable that comes through to attach to the hood lock in some way with a safety quick release latch of some sort. 

Alternatively, Dusty's belts are an option but I don't like the look on a classic car.

If the latch works properly there is no way for the latch to release from the safety position w/o manually moving it.

Key words “if the latch is working properly”.   I will check it once the hood is fixed to check that it is fully engaged.  

Here is a pic of the snapped head bolt.  He also found a crack between the valves on both heads.  He going to check the depth and see if it goes through to the intake port, if not, then he will weld it up, otherwise I will have two nice paper weights.

If I need new heads, any recommendations? It is a CB performance 2165 motor.    

Thanks Alan!

Call CB, they must know the specs that the engine came with from IM, or IM would have a build sheet telling them what it came with.

Other than that the Borg would have to call them to find out as well.

I'll save you a phone call to Henry.  When I had the car he said

"No too much in the file, This tube chassis Roadster was sold as a coach but completed by Intermeccania with customer supplied engine & trans.  I remember big motor maybe 2180cc or ? with Porsche 911 style fan shroud.  If I remember right seemed like very short gears to me. 
 
Delivered July 1999
Sapphire Silver
Gray leather
Gray Stayfast top
Full tonneau in gray Stayfast
Square Weave carpet, silver blue
Low bumper guards
Courtesy lights
Radio pod with customer supplied radio
Auto antenna
Heated seats
Power windows
Dual cigar lighters
 
That is about all, it has been gone from this are for a long time."

@Csquared wrote- "If I need new heads, any recommendations? It is a CB performance 2165 motor."  What heads are on it now? Valve sizes? How do you like the powerband? What carbs? camshaft/rockers? exhaust? compression ratio?   

I see a surge in those buying Dusty's leather hood straps.

I'm surprised no one has tried putting the hinges on the front of the hood like on a  Spyder??? Of course, Spyder owners have the clam shell to worry about......

Hood straps are a good idea, but an annoyance every time you need to fill up or open the hood for whatever reason.

To me, they are worth the hassle for the lack of worry of having the hood fly up.  Plus, unlike Ray, I like the look.

Carlos G posted:

I'm surprised no one has tried putting the hinges on the front of the hood like on a  Spyder??? Of course, Spyder owners have the clam shell to worry about......

Hmmmmm. I'm gonna put that one in the file.

Come to think of it it’s a great idea and I don’t know why we never thought about it

Maybe because there is absolutely zero structural frame members out that far forward to hold the frame end of the hood hinges?

IaM-Ray posted:

Come to think of it it’s a great idea and I don’t know why we never thought about it

Maybe because the heavy end of the hood is at the rear ?  Or, the front, pointy end would have to have the hinges just about center mounted...not good in a windy situation. 

There are no frame supports supporting the hinges on the Spyder. It's all hanging on fiberglass. It'd take some doing, but it'd look cool.

It'd be cool to design a hinge for the Spyder clam shell that works like the hinges on older BMW front hoods. Mmm, I'm going to have to put that on my list.

Gordon Nichols posted:

Maybe because there is absolutely zero structural frame members out that far forward to hold the frame end of the hood hinges?

You mean like what the latches attach to in the front of a rear hinged hood?

I think he means where the hinges would have to attach at the front to serve as the pivot point for the hood .

IaM-Ray posted:

I think he means where the hinges would have to attach at the front to serve as the pivot point for the hood .

... and I mean that's exactly what the latch in a conventional hood attaches to-- nothing. It's no different if it's hinges or a latch.

Stan Galat posted:

Carlos G posted:

I'm surprised no one has tried putting the hinges on the front of the hood like on a  Spyder??? Of course, Spyder owners have the clam shell to worry about......

Hmmmmm. I'm gonna put that one in the file.

You'd need to bond some steel in where the hinges attach, but I'll bet it could be done. I'd have to get a body in primer and then you can fabricate away.....

Just for a change-up pitch, I'll lob this meatball over home plate...what about hood pins (standard or keyed)...

...or hood latches?     

I like the pins. Not a fan of the overdone-on-911s Jeep-looking rubber things.

How about hinging it from the side like a Jag XKE rear hatch?

Panchitos.

As Theron pointed out, the engine is not a CB performance build.  The good news is appears to be well built.  It has a balanced crank and connecting rods and spins freely.     My mechanic found a brand new set of CB 044 panchitos that are CNC porting+CNC combustion chamber porting+titanium valve retainers and dual groove valve keepers. The heads are now at the machine shop getting fly cut to match CC volume of the old heads.   

The hood is fully repaired and primed.  I was hopeful that I could get the paint code from Victor, the previous owner, but no luck.  He was kind enough to send an email to see if Henry happens to have the code.  He is a stand up guy!   If I strike out there, I’ll have to have it blended in with front of the car and hope it looks ok.  

I hope to have it back late next week!

It looks to be a Porsche silver colour.  IM used to use it a lot in the early  years.  

Just saying. 

Good news on the motor. And on the hood as well. Cheers!

Not a paint expert but I really don't like blending when it is a single discrete panel.  The way the hood sits - I would just try to get the best match possible.  The blending, to me, makes damage look worse - maybe not the next day but months down the line.  It fades differently or even the clear coat looks different.

You're right, Greg. The only way to be sure is to paint the whole thing. But at least he can get back on the road for the driving season now.

Well he can always paint it black or wrap it after a month with checkered flag material.

A silvery (faux) carbon fiber wrap would look good!  Red not so good.

@WOLFGANG  I  PM'd you ...

I finally got the car back yesterday.  The hood took a bit of work to get fitted correctly.  When the hood flew up, it bent the hinge bolts.  They were too bent to be able to be removed, so they had to be cut out and replaced.  The good news is the paint matches perfectly!  

The engine with the new heads runs well.  It seems to have a little more bottom end with the CB 044 panchitos.  

Thanks all for your help and guidance.  

Chris

Here are a few pics

Looks great. Glad you got it all worked out.

Looks great Chris! 

wonderful

glad to hear the paint came out good, hopefully they just shot the hood, sometimes upon blending bc/cc the clear is thinner as you fade it out, after wetsanding/buffing to blend it , the endge of the blend doesn't always hold up to uv rays and heat and can lift from the lack of material on the blended edge.

Yep, they only painted the hood.   The color match was good enough to not have to blend in with the front.  Thankfully!

The painter must be very good as that paint colour is hard to match.   Good for you. 

Probably a dumb question...would the higher velocity of the CB 044 panchitos make the engine run leaner?   I am getting some popping at  lower RPMs. 

Thanks,

Chris

Possibly. Is this how it's been since the new/reconfigured engine was started, or is this a change in behavior from when you first got it back?

If it's been this way, it's possible jetting is wrong. And maybe it needs a synch/tune.

If this is a change, it's probably a plugged idle jet.

Either way, have you dumped the oil and adjusted the valves since the new heads were installed. Re-torqued the heads?

@IaM-Ray posted:

The painter must be very good as that paint colour is hard to match.   Good for you. 

What helps, Ray is if the painter is using the same brand/color system then it's so much easier for him to match the finish. The different paint companies all claim for it to be possible to match any color, but all it takes is a metallic or clear to have a slightly different hue (from the original) and you're banging your head against the wall when close is simply not good enough.

@Csquared posted:

...would the higher velocity of the CB 044 panchitos make the engine run leaner?   I am getting some popping at  lower rpm's.

Not a dumb question at all, Chris. Everyone's head design and intake port volume is slightly different so the way each acts on a particular engine won't be exactly the same. Have you adjusted the idle mixture screws?  If that has no effect you may need to up the idle jet a step.

Colourimeters are funny at times as they are basically spectrophotometers and there is some variability not to mention the sample size is small to say the least. 

I wonder how many different systems are out there  

Danny and Al, thanks for your comments.

I noticed an occasional popping at lower RPM that was not there prior to the new heads.   My though is the main jets may need to up a size to account for the higher head air volumes.   I only have about 30 miles on the car since the new heads were put on.  I would think I want to wait for a few hundred miles before I re torque the heads and adjust the valves.  

I ran into another issue yesterday where the car had no power was running rough and would backfire if pushed to higher than 3k RPM. It would occasionally clean up a bit and then run horrible again.  I pulled the main jets and cleaned them, took it for a ride and all was well for about 8 miles and then the same thing happened.   I limped it home, pulled off the carbs, tore them down cleaned everything (did’t notice and debis or clogged passages) put all back together and it didn’t change anything.   

It idles fine, so my next step is to replace the coil, and then plug wires.  I am running the compu-fire electronic ignition which looks fine and my guess is it either works or it doesn’t.  

Any other thoughts or ideas on next steps

Thanks 

chris

Csquared:  Don't know if this applies to your situation.  My car has a 2110, 44 Webers had similar symptoms to what you described.  Motor is a about 6 years old, 13K miles.  Revamped fuel system around a Carter rotary fuel pump.  Popping on start up & acceleration & backfiring on deceleration went away.

I had a fuel pump do that and the rotary pump helped and then I had a header gasket leak and it did the same thing. 

I went and picked up coil and spare distributor from a friend and installed the coil.  I then decided to check the plug wires.  And what did I find, a loose plug wire on the #3 cylinder, just sitting in the hole, probably making slight contact.  I pushed it back on the plug, put my old coil back on (as I knew I found by problem) and it runs great (still at little popping when cold).

I did not adhere to the basic law of VW mechanics, start with the basics .  The good news is, I now have really clean carbs that I know are free from any junk and adjusted correctly.    

Thanks for your thoughts and ideas!

Chris

and that's why they say 90 percent of all carb problems are ignition related. Glad you solved it, a lot of us have been down that same rat hole.

Glad you got it figured out, Chris. I thought for some reason you had checked all the obvious so I didn't mention it originally, and as you found out- always start with the basics!

As for the popping when cold- you could try turning the idle mixture screws out ½ or 1 turn, but that should really only affect the mixture at idle so a step bigger set of idle jets are probably what's needed. I would go up as little as you can- Aircooled.net has idle jets in 1/2 sizes (42½, 47½ etc) 'cause you reallly don't need to go up very much.

http://vwparts.aircooled.net/W...dle-Jets-p/74405.htm

You'll have to know what size jets are in your carbs now (it's always a good idea to have written down what's in your carbs so you know) and these-

http://vwparts.aircooled.net/W...R-p/jc-4313-0-pr.htm

so you can change the idle jets without removing the carbs are a good idea, and they make it easier to pull a jet for cleaning (should 1 get plugged) as well!

Hope this helps. Al

Thanks Al for the ideas. 

I plan to play with the carb adjustments and syncing this weekend.  

chris