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Stan Galat posted:

I'm assuming he's got a 1600- 1641. 1776 outside.

No matter, 5 bucks says he's got stock heads and aluminum pushrods. I'd start at the beginning, as Danny is suggesting. Pop off the valve-covers, turn the engine over with a wrench. Do the valves go up and down (all of them)? Are the springs broken that you can see? If it looks good, set the valves-- .004 and .006.

Move to the ignition. Pop the distributor cap. Look at the contacts in the cap. Do they look like they've got calcium building up? Are they carbon tracked? IF they have white stuff, scrape it off with a paring knife. If there's carbon, get a new cap and rotor. If you have points, and aren't a mechanic, and don't have access to a tach/dwell meter, put the hood down. You're going to need to trust somebody. If there were no points, and you find something under the rotor that says "Pertronix" or Compu-Fire", you've got a module, and can put the cap back on. Pull all 4 plugs. Are any of them soaking wet or oily looking? In all likelihood, they will be-- but you are looking for differences between them. Replaced them all. Resist the urge to get Iridium plugs or the like. Just get NGK motorcycle plugs. Gap 'em, put 'em in.

Then start it. Rev the engine to 3000 RPM. Get out a timing light and check the timing-- you are looking for about 30* at 3000 RPM. Where it is at idle doesn't matter.

Shut it off. Pull the intakes off the heads. You're going to tear the gasket when you do this, but you can cut new ones. Clean both the manifolds and the sealing surface on the heads. This will be no fun, but must be done. Cut new gaskets, use something (grease or oil) to coat them. Bolt the manifolds back on. Then, start and check the fuel pressure. Even if the pressure is OK, that still doesn't mean you're out of the woods on the carbs.

Were the plugs wet or oily looking when you pulled them out? It's probably flooding. KAdrons are notorious for doing this, because the needle valves are garbage. You can get a rebuild kit, but the new needle valves in the kit are garbage too. Lots of people love, love, love their Kadrons, but those people like kale too. The carbs will often be problematic no matter what.

You've got to go through all of this, or none of it matters. Don't trash talk guys trying to help with nothing to gain. Good luck. 

Hi Stan

I am not sure about the engine displacement how can I work this out?

The springs are not broken, what do you mean “do the valves go up and down”? The valves are horizontal not vertical.

The distributor cap had white stuff, I cleaned them.

what do you mean by points? I don’t have a tach/dwell meter.

How do I check the rotor to determine if I have module?

i have NGK plugs

30* at 3000 rpm ( I am assuming 30 degrees at 3000 rpm?)

Maybe i should get a single Carburetor to run the entire engine.

i agree the needle valves on the carbs are garbage.

I don't understand what you mean by "air fin". Please try to explain in a different way.

I got a pair of Solex 35s to run like a clock on a tube-frame sand rail. Pull the fuel line from one carb, and install some hose and a "T" to the gauge. You'll get the pressure across both carbs. Stan is correct that the float valves are usually not that great quality. But if you make sure you're at no more than 1.5 psi you should be OK.

Fins?  Here's what your engine looks like with all the cooling tin removed.  Each piston cylinder has steel fins around it (probably rusty) and the heads have fins but are silver aluminum.  If the car sat for a long time mice like to build nests above the cylinder tins disrupting airflow and causing a stink! 

Image result for vw bug engine

I don't see any of the '73 California smog stuff on the engine.  Transaxle is a '73.

On an engine that you don't know anything about - a compression test is always good for establishing a baseline condition.  Low compression or uneven cylinder compression can indicate worn cylinders/rings, bad valves or cylinder-head leaks.

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Last edited by WOLFGANG

You have to do some of your own thinking here Highlander. Stan said to check the valve movement and used some generic language to check the movement of the valves by asking you to see if the valves were moving up and down. Your response was, "The valves are horizontal not vertical.". Well of course they're vertical, it's a boxer motor. Stan is well aware of the engine configuration since he's built several motors. But he's also been wrenching on good ole American iron for almost all of his life. Those valves go up and down. He didn't phrase it properly but it means the same thing. So check if all of the vales are moving in and out instead of up and down. If any of the valves aren't moving in or out then you have a broken valve spring and that will cause problems.

FWIW, Kadrons are notoriously hard to dial up. My car came with a set and I just sold them and bought a set of Dellorto 40's that were "plug and play". The posts above are spot on. Intake leaks will do it. With my Dellortos I had occasional backfiring on deceleration but that was after 15 years of them being installed and it ended up being a plugged jet on cylinder #2 so that cylinder was being cancelled occasionally. After cleaning up the carbs everything went away.

We could never get them right; they were running rich and had a notorious stumble with the .009 distributor the car had. I know some people are happy with them but not in our case. A friend of mine also had a pair and sent them to AJ Sims at Lowbugget to get them dialed in and gave up on them too. After I installed my Dellorto 40’s and saw how nice they work he bought two sets; one for his Speedster and another for his 914 and had perfect results as well. This is in our experience.

Last edited by Impala

@Highlander356 unless you really want to spend a lot of time and learn a lot about these engines and their idiosyncrasies, I would recommend finding a good, trustworthy mechanic in your area and have them sort out the problems.

While many of us are good wrenches, it's very hard to help without being there. Many others of us just like the cars and don't have a clue about working on them. There's nothing wrong with either approach, but becoming a good air-cooled VW mechanic is a long and time consuming process.

mppickett posted:

@Highlander356 unless you really want to spend a lot of time and learn a lot about these engines and their idiosyncrasies, I would recommend finding a good, trustworthy mechanic in your area and have them sort out the problems...

You're wasting your breath, Mike, there are no good mechanics in Australia. We've already been told so several times. I guess working on cars are where Aus. guys go when they're not smart enough to do anything else. He'll be the first to master complex procedures such as installing spark plugs, setting timing and adjusting valves and carbs. 

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