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Am I hurting my Thing?
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BlissBignall
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Joined: June 20, 2016
Posts: 72
Location: San Angelo, TX
BlissBignall is offline 

PostPosted: Tue Jul 26, 2016 11:58 am    Post subject: Am I hurting my Thing? Reply with quote

So....I haven't had a VW for over 30 years, and just don't recall my driving habits from back then. I recently acquired a 74 Thing with dual carbs on it.

I live less than a mile from where I work, and am used to getting in, starting up, and driving off to work. Should I be starting the car up and letting it idle for 5 or even 10 minutes before driving it?

What I notice is that the throttle doesn't return to low idle when let up until the car has run for awhile. This leads to idling down the road at 25 sometimes.

Once the engine is warmed up, it will drop down to a low enough idle that I sometimes have to bump it a bit at stop lights so it doesn't die.

And the final item is the 11mph I'm getting. I am thinking a tune-up is due to be done, and plan to approach my mechanic about ensuring the carbs are in synch with each other.
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1963 Beetle...My mom's car that got sold in 2012
1969 Beetle...That was fun!
1972 Beetle...Never ran right
1974 Thing....Daily driver on sunny days
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BlissBignall
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Joined: June 20, 2016
Posts: 72
Location: San Angelo, TX
BlissBignall is offline 

PostPosted: Tue Jul 26, 2016 12:37 pm    Post subject: Re: Am I hurting my Thing? Reply with quote

I guess I should add that the car spent most of the last year and a half sitting in the previous owner's garage, and since I have had it (about a month), it's had right around 300 miles put on. I asked the previous owner if he had changed the plugs or anything, and he said the only thing he had done was put one tank of gas in it...I drove for a few days on his tank of gas before filling the tank.
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1963 Beetle...My mom's car that got sold in 2012
1969 Beetle...That was fun!
1972 Beetle...Never ran right
1974 Thing....Daily driver on sunny days
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[email protected]
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Joined: June 02, 2011
Posts: 1593
Location: Louisville, ky
ptjjb@yahoo.com is offline 

PostPosted: Tue Jul 26, 2016 6:53 pm    Post subject: Re: Am I hurting my Thing? Reply with quote

According VW literature you can start it and drive immediately.

According to John Muir you need to start up and wait a bit to drive. John Muir is wrong about a lot of things.

11 mpg, yes get a tune up, although do not start at carbs, it goes in this order.
Set valves to .006, unless you have steel pushrods (unlikely) then it gets set to zero lash.
Set point gap to .016, or better yet set dwell to 50%.
Set timing, I use 30 degrees with the engine wide open, which comes out to just shy of 7 degrees at idle.

I would also pull a spark plug and connect a wire to check the spark, it should be big and blue, not wimpy and white.

Now maybe you can consider messing with the carb. Those other things I told you to check slowly change as the engine wears and need to be brought back to spec. There is nothing in the carburetor that slowly changes so it should be the last place you look for trouble.
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BlissBignall
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Joined: June 20, 2016
Posts: 72
Location: San Angelo, TX
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 27, 2016 7:30 am    Post subject: Re: Am I hurting my Thing? Reply with quote

[email protected] wrote:
According VW literature you can start it and drive immediately.

According to John Muir you need to start up and wait a bit to drive. John Muir is wrong about a lot of things.

11 mpg, yes get a tune up, although do not start at carbs, it goes in this order.
Set valves to .006, unless you have steel pushrods (unlikely) then it gets set to zero lash.
Set point gap to .016, or better yet set dwell to 50%.
Set timing, I use 30 degrees with the engine wide open, which comes out to just shy of 7 degrees at idle.

I would also pull a spark plug and connect a wire to check the spark, it should be big and blue, not wimpy and white.

Now maybe you can consider messing with the carb. Those other things I told you to check slowly change as the engine wears and need to be brought back to spec. There is nothing in the carburetor that slowly changes so it should be the last place you look for trouble.


Great! Thanks. I know the car is due for a tune-up. It's actually running just a bit rough. Probably going to be my Saturday morning job. Smile
_________________
1963 Beetle...My mom's car that got sold in 2012
1969 Beetle...That was fun!
1972 Beetle...Never ran right
1974 Thing....Daily driver on sunny days
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View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Gallery Classifieds Feedback
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