VW 181 starting problems

Jeff5678 · 03-24-2023, 06:05 AM

I am trying this forum since I am striking out on the Samba site. I had an engine fire so had to do a rewire. I also decided to rebuild the carb which is a 34 PICT 3. The car was running fine till that happened. I replaced the wiring and that is all good and tested out fine. I replaced the Pertronix system, all fuel lines and vacuum lines. Also replaced the rotor and the cap with all new plug wires. I am getting spark. I can see the jet shoots a nice stream so I think I am getting fuel. I replaced all the sensors. My dist. has a vacuum advance and also the retard. Since it is a Pict 3 there are only 3 ports so I have the retard just capped off. It also has the EGR which I have ported to the front of the carb. When I turn it over all it does is poop and fart a little. I have included a couple of pics to show the set up. The air and idle screws are now set at 2 1/2 turns out. I get a great spark from the plug wire which means the new flame thrower coil and the Pertonix seem to be working. What is weird is when I pump the throttle a number of times the plugs still stay dry. Not thinking that should be. Anyway any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. My other car is an 87 Porsche 911 slant nose I have asked many questions on here.

I have also shown the pics of the vacuum line set up.

javadoɡ · 03-28-2023, 08:09 PM

Two things that come to mind are

Valve timing: your plugs getting wet says to me maybe something is wonky there, with a carburetor engine you should be getting fuel into the cylinders. Did you maybe fool with this?

Spark timing: having a strong blue spark is great but it doesn't help you if it is at the wrong place at the wrong time. I would double check your plug wires are going to the right spots (both right plug holes and right spot on the distributor cap), easy to be 180 degrees out by accident.

Jeff5678 · 03-29-2023, 07:55 AM

Thanks for the tip. Turns out my plug wires where on wrong. I reversed the 1 & 2 and subsequently did the same with the 3 & 4. I now have her running but I am not good at tuning a carb. I am looking for help in Southwest FL. Sarasota area. I think I have it times right but there is only 1 mark on the pully wheel. I am using a timing light but with no reference to go by it is hard. I used the "time it till it's happy" fastest idle then back off a little. I also hooked up the retard side of the dist and blocked off the EGR to use that port. Will try and take her for a ride today to see if I am at all close. Thanks for replying.

Jeff5678 · 03-29-2023, 11:08 AM

runs now but has no power when trying to drive. She doesn't bog down but just seems to have no power when starting out or going into 2nd gear. I can sluggishly get her to go faster but would be terrible if I were to try and pull out into traffic. Dwell is at 50*, idle at 950 but fluctuates. no backfires when I goose the engine from idle like before. Don't know what to do next.