Pedal Stop Tearing the Floor Pan!

Fix for big feet in a VW Bug

Weber (and Empi) Progressive Carbs and the VW

We need to have a conversation about progressives. This is a bit of a rant about so many of us VW fans not understanding how center mount carbs work since much of this applies to center mount IDF's and others too. Even stock carbs! Weekend driver cars in warm climates... Those owners are the ones who say progressives are absolutely fine and anybody who has trouble is doing it wrong. In a VW... If you want to drive year round, your carb needs HEAT. The crappy Empi manifolds that most proggys are bolted to are BAD. Not only do they place the carb up over the alt/genny so the linkage is all borked, they don't truly allow the exhaust heat to flow through the manifold. The only manifold that addresses those issues that's currently for sale is the one Aircooled.net is selling. And if you're running aftermarket exhaust, IT DOESN'T MATTER! The aftermarket exhausts don't provide a hot side and cold side like the VW factory did. So the heat just pulses back and forth, pretty much only heating the ends of the heat risers and not the intake. This allows fuel to condense on the cold runners, creating a lean condition. Until you floor it, of course, then all that pooled fuel ends up in your cylinders often causing a big BANG. But getting the manifold heat isn't the only issue. You need heated air into the throat of the carb. Most cars from this era handle this by having a thermostat in the aircleaner that draws air from around the exhaust. It's air heated by the burnt exhaust, usually around the exhaust manifold. A dry paper air filter is an absolute necessity here, as the oil treated gauze most VW aftermarket aircleaners use will just cook the oil. So this becomes difficult to bolt onto our VWs. Then, if you add in the mechanical "009" style carb that so many seem to run, it gets worse. You NEED off throttle advance, and the only way to get that without a computer controlled ignition is with a vacuum can on your distributor. SVDA gets you pretty darn close, including the Pertronix Flame Thrower SVDA. A factory SVDa is better. Still, USE SVDA!!! TL;DR: If you aren't putting enough heat into your carb, and using an 009, your Progressive carb is going to be completely untuneable in anything but nice dry days over 60* or so. It isn't the carb's fault! I've run one on my 1835 for a couple years as a daily driver. I've also had other non-VW cars that had proggys. I know the issues. Poor idle even when warm. Heel-toe'ing the brake and gas. Stumbling when taking off at anything other than full throttle. Stinky exhaust from trying to jet your way out of it. Etc. I've recently decided I don't want to take my Baja to the point where I've done all of the above. Granted, it would have been cheaper than going with dual IDF 40's, but that's the direction I'm taking. Of course, they bring their own problems to the table. Like not having chokes, so cold morning starts will suck. I'm gonna miss that "touch of the key" start I get now on even the coldest mornings. DO your HOMEWORK! Understand what is necessary to make ANY centermount carb work well. If you aren't willing to do that, get duals!

Making LED turn signals flash correctly in a 1968 VW Bug

 

Harbor Freight Aluminum Jack Repair

I made a thing!

Much easier to tune an air cooled VW with an analog tach. So I created one from a steering column mount tachometer.

Making and installing a hard start relay