Valve lash issue / engine sputtering trouble shooting

[lencho13]

I'm stuck here and am looking for some guidance.

A little history - I had our 74 super beetle running well. Recently after a long nice drive I was heading home and it died on me. I threw it on the trailer and got it home. Did some trouble shooting and found that the points were burn out or bad. I thought "yay! easy fix". I installed some new points and it fired right up. It sounded pretty good but as soon as I started down the driveway it sputtered bad and would try to die if I gave it any gas. I tweeked with the carburetor a but but nothing I did seemed to improve things. I decided to do an oil change and check the valve lash. I only had to do some real minor adjustments on a couple valves.

The problem - When I got to cylinder 3, I checked the valve lash on (not the furthest forward to the front)(not sure which is intake and exhaust) valve, I found that the top of the valve is sitting lower that the top of the valve spring so I can not get a good reading with my feeler gauge.

I've attached pictures of both of the # cylinder valves to show what I'm trying to explain.

With my limited VW mechanical knowledge my theory is the keepers on that valve might be bad or worn causing the valve to sit lower and possibly causing the running issues?

I had a buddy turn the engine over manually while I watched the valves motion and it looked like it was moving correctly.

Looking back trying to figure what caused this I remember that I did rev it pretty high when I downshifted to pass a truck. Would that have caused these issues with the points and engine sputtering?

This is our first VW (it's my wife's fun car) and we've owned it for a year and know it has at least 119,000 miles possibly 219.

I'm trying to figure out what my next step needs to be. Can I change the keepers out on that valve spring with the head still on the car or am I going to need to drop the engine and pull the head?

I appreciate any help you guys can give me.

[VW_Jimbo]

They do not look bad at all. It actual looks like someone has decked the heads or case and the push rods are a bit long. I have seen some where the rocker arm is resting on the valve retainer!

You can get a feeler gauge in there. Get some oil on it and slide it in! If needed back the adjuster off a few turns.

And so you know. The outside valves are the exhaust valves and the 2 in the middle are intake. E-I-I-E

.006” is what you are going for.
_________________
Jimbo

There is never enough time to do it right the first time, but all the time necessary the second time!