Weather got warm...now barely starts and won't run well at al.

[waterman7474]

Kinda new to this so bear with my ignorance but I have a 63 baja that is my first vw (that a guy sold me with the house in september and its lived is life around vegas...but i digress) Mostly stock (running gear that is) and it has (supposedly) a 1600, converted to 12v and is running a 34pict and 09dist. It barely ran when I got it. Hard to start and wouldn't idle.
Rebuilt and cleaned the carb with a kit (there was debris in the jet that looks like a flute), new rotor top and arm, plug wires, did valves (as best I could) and set timing (eyeball method as best I could) over the winter. Tuned the carb (again.. as best..) by the directions of the hippy book and Rob&Dave website. Ran pretty damn well. I would breath on the keyand it would start. No throttle, usually anything but the tiniest throttle is no-start. Ran pretty decent for what I could tell. Had the 09dist hesitation as to be expected and maybe a little hot but decent i suppose. It might have been idling a little on the high side too.
The only thing is when it was really up to temp, like been driving around town for a while, and would like run into the store for something and come back, it would take a little more turning and/or pedal to start it. My buddy said that is is probably just a warm engine cooking the gas off.

I really don't drive it much at all either. Maybe out on a friday night or down the street to get a taco. Like maybe a whole tank of gas since december....but I start it and run it or move it around running or drive it around the hood or something at least every other weekend.

So, been out of town a bunch and last time I started it, it was in the 60s. Try and start it to move it out of the garage and it the other day and it's in the 80s and it won't start. Did the pedal mash start and it kinda started but it wasn't happy about it, labored and bogging and could only get it started with some carb cleaner (it may have been engine greaser....but it still has some -anol of some kind in it and worked...). After a few minutes of finessing it (thinking it may be an air bubble or possibly bad gas) it seemed even out ok but wouldn't idle, like can't get out fast enough to get to the back to adjust before it dies. Almost any throttle would bog it out and kill it. I could finesse and pop the throttle up to get it rev'ed but it wasn't easy. Turned the bypass screw a little (frantically...and maybe the volume screw..) and it got worse...obviously.... Smelled gassy after some more attempts so I let it sit thinking I had just flooded it to try again in a day or two.

Last night I try again. This time it starts with a little pedal and some finesse then it will idle REALLY low but not die and almost any throttle will kill it (but i did let it idle for a good 10-15 so it was nice and warm). Figure I screwed something up with the tune and with the warm, maybe needs to be adjusted for warm so go through the whole procedure again. As per the instructions, starting from zero, won't idle. I was able to get it to run a little better but with the volume screw out probably 3.25 turns and the bypass out not quite 2. It still seems to be idling low and I can turn the bypass down so that it dies but can't get it to idle very high with out making it die. Still bogs out very easily with most any throttle input and can finesse-tap it enough to get the rpms up enough to drive it but there is NO mid low range rpm power.

Other info.
-I did check for vacuum leaks by spraying some ?carb" cleaner around the carb and intake joints and the intake tube (?) joints below all the way to the head with no noticeable change in rpm
-No, I'm not sure if the timing is spot on or if the points are gapped proper.
-No, I haven't tore the cab back apart yet or seen if there is something clogging one of the jets or if float is stuck but there is a fuel filter and all the brass bits are new.
-The plugs are not new (I have some) but I pulled them when I did the valves and they looked pretty good but hit them with a light wire brush and some cleaner for good measure.
-I have had a green light on dash. It isn't the alternator, that is charging fine (as per some help) and pushing 12.4v at the battery. I am not running all the tail lights proper yet (no reverse light or blinkers working) and wiper motor is non-op but headlight and brake lights work fine so I just chalked it up to something there.
-Don't know coil condition and tried to test it last night but clearly didn't touch the voltmeter sticks to the right places and couldn't get a reading (I don't understand electricity....)
-Yes I did a search but fell asleep reading posts about problems where it won't run at all when the MOTOR gets warm...not the weather....

Is it the carb jetting?
Valves?
Dist or timing?
Coil?

Hopefully that wasn't too much info and enough to clear up some some internet guessing. Thanks again for the help y'all.

[Eric&Barb]

Pull off the air cleaner with engine running. Best to wear goggles just in case. Pull the arm on the side of the carb back and see if there is a squirt of fuel out of the accelerator nozzle.

The flute like jet is the air correction jet.

You probably need to clean the carb again and possible a third time. Just takes doing it more than once to get out all the gunk.
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[mukluk]