I found these awesome videos at YouTube. They were made in the early 70s to train VW mechanics on how to do things such as set idle speed, timing, and do valve adjustments. What a find!
Several more videos, including part II of carburetor tuning, here.
For the record, I now know for certain that my chassis is a '68, the bottom half of the engine is a '68 H5, and the rest of the engine is a mish-mash mostly consisting of '74 parts. It's a Frankenbeetle, like so many other VWs on the road these days. So, technically, in the shop my Beetle is a '74, but legally on paper it's a '68. Alrighty then.
My carburetor wobble came back, and I could not get the idle set, and then the car started chugging and croaking as if it was taking its dying gasps, so I gave up and took it to a new mechanic I happened to find about a mile from me. Supposedly he's one of the best. What's nice is that he's nice, and he's cheaper than everyone else I've found. I also had the transaxle mounts replaced, since that was the cause of the terrible shaking when starting off in 1st gear. He said the fuel system checks out okay, and the carburetor looks good. That still leaves me with the mystery of why the Bug is dying after I start it, and when I come to a stop. You know, I do have my fingers crossed that I just haven't mastered the setting of the idle yet. Tomorrow I plan to drive the couple of blocks over to my uncle's house and work on that. So cross your fingers for me.
Other than that, when I got the Bug back from Brian (mechanic dude), it seemed to run a bit smoother and a bit quieter. Nice! After driving my dad's Ford Ranger for the past week, I guess I'd just missed that warbly toot and whistle of the VW engine. That and getting curious looks and appreciative stares here and there, and the excitement of passing another old VW on the road. I passed a dark blue sedan, I guess mid-70s, coming back from the store today. I don't even have to think about it almost, my hand flies to the horn button and a smile crosses my face. It's so neat to think that I might be passing by a Bug or a Bus that came from the same place, around the same time, and might have even been put together by some of the same hands. It's like a little family reunion!
So, wish me luck tomorrow getting the idle set, and that that clears up my low RPM stalls. I don't have a tach dwell meter on hand, or a timing light (because I should really try and set the timing too), but I'll do what I can. I have to get the valves set pretty soon. I can still use the driveway of the place I just moved from, until they sell the house, which is soon. Then I'm stuck without anywhere to work on the Bug. I wish they had a community garage around here... sort of like the garage you get to use when you're stationed on a military base. Such a thing would be perfect for me right now. I think I'll just have to settle for a lot somewhere nearby. I read somewhere about a guy who uses the back lot of his local Safeway to do repairs to his Bug. I can't really use my lot where I live because it's made of gravel. Painful to lay on and such. So I'll just have to look for something else.
And... you know, once I get over the hump, ie get most of these mechanical engine issues sorted and get the Bug in condition to be a healthy and solid daily driver, I'm going to attack that radio and see if it works. It's a Sapphire XVIII, not even close to hooked up (probably doesn't work), and there's no speaker. I'm going to bring the radio in in a couple of days anyway and start fiddling with it in my spare time, between unpacking boxes, running errands, and working. I read a pdf somewhere about hacking an old Sapphire to include a line-in for an mp3 player. That would definitely not suck, as my Sapphire is AM-only, and they just changed my favorite AM station here from 60s and 70s oldies to Mexican, as if we didn't already have like 6 or 7 Mexican stations already. It would have been freakin' awesome to ride around in my '6874 Beetle, listening to oldies on the AM radio.
So much for short and sweet. :)
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