I'm suffering from poor low end perfomance. Anything from idle to about 2500-2800 rpm feels gutless and bogged down. So this makes driving around town and driving off from a complete stop rather difficult. But at around 3k to 5k it pulls strong.

Is this a dizzy/timing problem? Not sure what dizzy it is.... recent tune up on ignition (points, cap) though.


I have a spare Pertronix laying around from my old engine. Think it'll help? I know all about them blowing up with ignition left on. Just wondering if it's worth the try. This is a carbed 1.7.


Thanks

What engine? What mods? If DJet sounds like a sticky advance plate...

carbs? - what jets? what motor size? what venturis? etc?

tell us about your motor?
what lifters? what size? what cam?

the more you tell us - the easier it is to help.

points and condenser!
while your at it pull the dizzy and clean it up inside and out . carb cleaner them some spray lube on the moving bits.

Dual 40 Webers.....

1.7 engine. hydro lifters. Good compression.

Not idea on the cam or much else. sadly.

Don't know much about carbs, but according to my sheet here I think the main jets are 115, idles 45 or 50, and venturis 28mm......

Hammy,

Is this a NEW problem????

Or has this been happening for a while???

Did anything happen to precipitate this?

Is this a NEW engine to you????

Have you done anything differant to the engine lately????

Did this come on slowly or it just started happening quickly? (Instantly?)

Give us some more data.......

Wild guess without near enough information is:

Timing/points/secondary ignition, Or sumpin ain't right with your carbs.
I sniff sumpin with the spark/ignition issues..

Give us the data...!!!!!!!!!!

And we help ya giterdone...

C

Clayton.

Yes it's somewhat new to me but it's always acted like this.

I just had it tuned up and it's running better than ever, except for the low end thing.
There's another thing. Can't believe I didn't remember this until now.
On one of the carbs the butterflies don't close completely, they're still slightly open at idle. So a lot of the time the idle floats up at about 1200-1300 rpm. It seemed like a minor problem to me so I didn't invest any more into it.

check the front 2 barrels of the carbs for unequal flow. does the throttle return spring close the throttle plates with authority? is the high idle something new since the tuneup? at idle, gently push down on each linkage drop link and see if either side reduses the high idle. who tuned it? did they *fiddle* with the linkage?

k

It's not new since the tuneup. Always been this way. The recent tune up person messed with the linkage and adjusted the butterflies best as possible and added some additional springs. Still couldn't get one set of butterflies to close completely. It helped things quite a bit, but idle still coasts up.

What is your timing set at?

What new parts are on it?

Man,,,

I wish I could go to Modesto..


And start fixin that dam engine..RIGHT.

Okay, YOU need to learn about carbs... How to set em up... And to understand the intricasy's of what you have.

The only trick tool you need is a syncronizer. (bout 39.00 at redline)

You need to set the valve lash. (easier than you think)

Then ya need to make sure your points or electronic ignition is set up right. (usually easy)

Then ya need to set the engine timing with your timing light.
NOW the carbs can be tuned.

And it really has to be in that order of tuning parameters.

Else you might be fighting your carb tuning forever.

Unless you KNOW someone in your area that is VERY FAMILIAR with the typeIV, hydros and carbs. And they are willing to help you.

Or you are willing to do the learning curve and do it yourself.

Your will probably fight this issue forever.

I suggest you learn to do it yourself..... it's fun...!!!!

OR:

Bring the beast to the next BBQ and i will spend all my time on it.

And see if I can get it right..... With the help of the crew........

As usual. It will probably take all day. You might have to buy some parts.

(carb kits or points or something)

So what do you want to do????????

Either you learn how to do it.

Find a good 914 mechanic (you don't have one based on your above comments)

Or have the Narpists help you...

Your call..... What do you want to do?

Regards and a Happy New Year to you and your peeps.....

Clayton

Andy, not sure on timing since I didn't set it myself.
Thanks Clayton..... be fun to go down to SoCal and meet you and the gang......

I know the mech. I go to now knows what he's doin'..... VW specialist and has built TIV's before.
The car is running a lot better than ever has..... but money was a limit for me so he didn't get to spend a lot of time on it. But it is better.
So I was posting just wondering if anyone had any leads on what poor low end could be. It just kind of lugs until it hits 2500 or 3k. Then takes off

I'd read about some dizzy's not being able to advance the full rpm range or something......

And the carbs. Why wouldn't the one side butterfly be closing completely? Just worn? I'm thinking of tinkering with the springs a bit more to see if it can help a bit more.

FIRST...

Go to www.redlineweber.com and start reading the info on how to set up carbs...

Start there....

If ya get stuck.. Call me..

By the way.... if your mechanic set your timing to stock. And you have webers and hydrfos.

You will probably find that stock timing isn't EXACTLY the best setup for you.

If you have a stock FI dizzy and the advance curve is for stock.

You can tweak the dizzy for additional performance.

This is a trial and error kind of tuning. There are no exact timing/advance curves I can give you.

Cause it's specific to your combo...

C

~C

That sticky or "out of sync" butterfly may well be the reason that your setup doesn't work down low...

You will have to find out why that is happening before you try anything.

AS you go up in RPMs. the engine speed is masking the disproportionate air and fuel flow going into the engine.

You can't tune around that issue.

You have to fix it.

Go to redline and READ my friend....

Cheers,

Clayton

Thanks everyone.

And thanks Clayton. You've always been of good help to me.

I'll read.

If one of the butterflies isn't closing completely you know for sure the carbs aren't synchronized. Follow Clayton's list to the letter, you have to get all those other things sorted before you can even start on the carbs. But since you're new to it all you might try looking at the procedures at Aircooled.Net. I think they're easier than the Redline procedures for a beginner to follow/understand, though I would definitely recommend the STE "Snail" sync tool over the traditional Unisyn. As you get more involved get Bob Tomlinson's book on Weber tuning from CB Performance, It's cheap and good from basics for the beginner all the way on up. It has all the info from the Redliine site plus a lot more.

quick check. source a STE and determine if one carb flowing greater than the other. if they are unqual, back the idle adjustment screw on the *high side* carb (not the idle air mixture screw!) off of the stop and see if the idle comes down. this will take about 5 seconds and will not alter the linkage settings. at this point i would suspect a linkage issue. you may even experience a low idle after backing the screw off.

k