I've had it - thinking about throwing in the towel.
 

Hi all-
I have never been as frustrated with a car as I am right now. I have worked the last 5 years on building this car: new engine, suspension, paint, interior, two "street" concours wins - it LOOKS awesome. Why the hell is it so hard to keep running correctly. It has been at the shop twice in the last two months for a grand total of over 3 weeks! The car is hard to start, doesn't idle very smooth (it used to be perfect), feels like it is running on 3 cylinders until I get on it (it still pulls hard to redline) and backfires on decel. The shop rebuilt the distributor and it fixed one problem (a high RPM miss) but created the new problem of the low RPM miss. They have re-set the carbs and checked the timing twice now. When I pick up the car it runs better (it is warmed up), but the next morning when it is cold it runs like crap. This car is a 2.0 using dual 44 Webbers and the stock 2.0 vaccume advance distributor. The mechanics latest thought is that my exhaust is to "blown out" causing the back fire at decel and the difficulty setting the carbs. I have an older Bursch that is not at all rusty on the outside - could this cause these problems? It has a total of 6000 miles put on it over a 5 year period. It has a yearly oil change and valve adjust. There is only one thing worse than being in a car that draws attention and have it run like crap - the guy at the stoplight next to you driving a rusted old bug, that hasn't has a tune up in 15 years that runs 3 times smoother than your "primo" 914.
Please, please help - sorry for the long ramble.
Scott S

the clue is....runs like crap at low speeds but cleans out at full throttle. sounds like a speck of dirt or someting rolling around in one of your idle circuits. you are on idle up to about 40 mph when you are just driving around. when you give it full throttle you are on the mains. try pulling your carbs apart, cleaning them and blowing out all the circuits good. i've had this happen.

sounds like you have a beautiful and well kept car that is voicing its protest about being saddled with carbs.
carbs are either for (1) modified engines that can't use the FI, or (2) beaters.
doesn't sound like your car is either.
to the contrary, it sounds like you have a very, very nice car, that would be worth the time and $ to put the FI back on.
just my opinion.

I second what Eddie said. The FI might not look as impressive as a clean pair of carbs, but once its dialed in its rock solid.

You mentioned the shop "reset" the carbs? I wonder just whatthat means and are they truly balanced, jeted correctly and all other settings correct. I was going to have the Weber 48's on my race car checked for jetting/etc and my shop said the only real and accurate way to set them is on a dyno and it would take several hours. Since mine is a little off at everything except full throttle (where it is at mostly),I decided to forgo the costs. Webers appear really simple but any thing that is changed(such as an idle jet) will affect all the other settings. I would find a place that can set the car up on a dyno since it sounds like it would be worth the $$$ spent. As a side note, if the stock cam was kept and the engine is a stock 2.0l then 44's are probably too big for it. I ran 44's on a 2.4l race engine that was just about right. Good luck.

Scott, keep the carbs I have a 2.0 with Euro
pistons and a mild cam my carbs are spot on
I have a GREAT mechanic but webers are pretty
easy to tune. I agree that you have something
in you metering circuits. have them rebuilt
by someone that knows how to work on webers
If you want call 425-376 2655 this is Redmond
European and ask for Monty. Tell him Neal asked you to call. This guy is a phenom !
I am located in Washington State.

"They have re-set the carbs …" leads me to believe that your shop screwed them up. Although Webers are a relatively simple carb that performs its job extremely well, they DON'T take to dirt, neglect, and "tinkering" rather well.

Guaranteed the idle jets are clogged/have crap floating around in them, the carbs are probably due for a rebuild (new float needle valves, adjustment, cleaning), and they're sadly out-of-sync. There're a lot of small parts inside (emulsion tubes, jets), and even though rebuilding them is second nature to me, I wouldn't recommend it to the faint of heart. A level of respect is prudent to a successful rebuild; if you can assemble plastic car/boat/plane models without gluing your fingers (and the model) to the workbench, you can attempt this.

Weber Tech Manual by Bob Tomlinson (of CB Performance fame, absolutely #1), Weber Carburetor Manual by Haynes/TechBook (#2), and Weber Carburetors by Pat Braden/HPBooks (#3) are the 3 top manuals I recommend ANY individual with Webers living under the hood should purchase and READ. If your mechanic doesn't have either, you're on your own.

Yes, you WILL learn more about Webers than your mechanic, and might even be able to solve your carb problem yourself. Either that, or locate someone with "true" Weber (or Mikuni) rebuild experience and have them properly rebuilt and preadjusted.

Thanks for the input - Rouser, I like the car model comparison! Thats what this thing feel like a great deal of the time. I think the mosr frustrating part is that I am afraid of this motor. I have personally built several watercooled VW motors and I am very comfortable under the hood. Keeping them cool and tuned was so easy (can you say fuel injected...?). The air cooled cars make me nervous, especially when they are carbed. I can't believe I have the simplest motor layout (gas, air, spark = go) and I can't dial the damn thing in on my own. I found a new shop (had a four cam being worked on). The guy said he will prove to me that the car can be set up, and (I can't believe this) he will charge me half price to earn my future business. When have you ever heard that?!! Heck, since it's obviously Christmas maybe he will throw in a cute daughter and a trust fund!
I'll keep the list updated - and most of all
THANKS!
(now if I could just get my fingers unglued from this workbench...)
-Scott S