New guy to the club with carb question

[Firebuggy1981]

Hello my fellow buggy enthusiasts,
My name is Igor (yes that's my real name) and I have a question regarding performance issue on a 1600cc engine. After putting the new (made in China) 34 pict carb on the buggy i noticed its not running right with some hesitation and a flat spot in first gear. I was wondering if anyone knew a good and affordable place to get it tuned right in southern California. I got new spark plugs, new coil, new wires already installed just need a tune up. Thank you for your help and suggestions. -new loyal member Igor

[lastmanx]

Welcome to the club. Your carb is known for having the issue you describe. Do a tune up yourself, including valve adjustment and static timing. Proper warmup of the engine may lessen the problem. I live in MA. and can't recommend anyone in your area. You san do the carb tune yourself, its not that difficult. Many things contribute to the flatspot/hesitation. Do you have a vacuum advance distributer?, stock exhaust? If you don't have a drag race motor; don't expect drag race response. Your carb was designed for a beetle sedan, intended for easy acceleration, not quick response. Once you have timed ,the engine and tuned the carb at idle, teach yourself to drive the buggy more efficiently to lessen the hesitation issues. Don't get hung up on it. If you are looking for high performance, plan to spend a lot of money using performance everything. A smooth easy driver with stock components is what you may be striving for. I prefer to do things myself which is why I suggest it to you (I am very thrifty). Good luck.

[Firebuggy1981]

Thank you for the advice... I'll look up how to tune the carburetor. It seems like it's a common issue with that set up. In the future im going to upgrade the engine to 1776 or bigger, in the meantime I'll just beat up this one. Again thanks for quick reply.

[lastmanx]

Your 1600cc dual port engine is a good durable, and reliable VW motor. It can take a lot. It will be difficult to beat up, unless it is not maintained. Your plan to upgrade to a larger motor is best to start with a brand new engine in the future. What is happening now with your carb is : your carb is running rich causing the flat spot, due to fact you lightened its load by changing the heavy metal beetle body to lightweight fiberglass. Think flooding the manifold, thus a stall. Get the engine running as best as you can, and enjoy the ride while you save $$ and plan for the upgrade. Remember Bigger Motor,needs BIgger Transaxle,Bigger Brakes,etc. I have only hade 1600 DP motors, because of their reliability, I use them in the sand where you don't want to breakdown. I have had my current motor for 19 years (sand sealed with 45k miles ) mated to a sand basic modified transaxle. . Again welcome to the club. there are many people here who can help you with building, designing, the faster buggy you desire. Sorry I only build slow rugged buggys with top speeds of 65mph. Zero to sixty times of eventually. good luck

[Firebuggy1981]

Thanks for the heads up on the engine selection, I always believed bigger engine better performance but come to think of it maybe sticking with ol faithful is the way to go. I'll see if I can get it going and just have fun with this one then. It's a definitely a fun ride. I want to take it pismo beach down here in California and have fun with it.

[Tom-Kathleen]

What distributor do you have on your engine? If it is a 009, that could be the problem. There are changes that must be made to the stock style carb to run with that distributor to get rid of the "flat spot". Tom

[Firebuggy1981]

Thanks Tom... I do have the 009 distributor new coil plugs and wires... I just need to fine tune it so it can ride right. I'll look up how to tune it correctly with the set up that I have and do it on my next day off

[Firebuggy1981]

There are a few options that I can do to the carburetor... I'll Google it and see what works best for my set up.

[Firebuggy1981]

Let me check if I got a picture of the engine

[Tom-Kathleen]

When you 1st posted about your carb issues, I thought that might be the issue. Is that a FiberFab Clodhopper body? My 1st buggy was one of those. Tom

[Firebuggy1981]

I wish I knew... and I wish I knew how to figure out what I have. I bought the body a few years back on craigslist and have zero knowledge about what it is. I just know I barely fit in it, its fun to drive and I look cool driving it... or so I think I do. How can you tell what kind of buggy it is...

[Tom-Kathleen]

I can tell by the shape of the body. Does it have a "pebbley" surface on the inside of the seating area? The bumps on the back of the body are made for @ '62 VW tailiight lenses. Some of the rear of the body has been cut away to make it easier to work on the engine. I made a removable section to do the same thing and keep the stock lines. Tom

[Firebuggy1981]

You know I'm so glad that I joined this club and this group chat... it's amazing how you guys are knowledgeable in this area and helpful in the topic of VWs and dune buggies. You're absolutely right about the inside of the buggy, too bad I didn't knoe what tail lights to use when I was building it. I used the tail lights I found at a local auto parts store. Im really thankful for all of the information i obtained in this group chat. Im sure as lastmanx who replied earlier you have a cool machine built as well. Got any pics???

[Firebuggy1981]

My tail lights

[Tom-Kathleen]

You are welcome for the information. I have only been playing with VW's for 51 years. There are members here that have a lot more time than that. We try to help when we can. Tom