Scott,
A car that is stored for four years can have a number of problems that
are caused by the storage. Generally they are not at all serious, but
they will require that you get your hands dirty. Let's assume that the
rebuild was a quality job.
Some things that come to mind as going bad during storage:
Carb gets gummy. Fuel line gets gummy. Fuel pump electrical points can
corrode and the little ball valves get stick from stale gas.
Distributor contacts and rotors corrode. Spark plug wires can soften
and the contacts at the ends corrode also. The little wire from points to
the nut on the outside can get corroded.
Inside the engine, the valve seals (that are none too good to begin
with) can harden and dry out. Piston rings can stick in the pistons. The
sludge in the oil settled to the bottom of the pan.
You probably changed the oil as soon as you got the car running. If
not, do it now, and if you have a few hundred sputtering miles on the
engine, do it again.
So, what would I do at this point?
I would replace points, condenser, ignition wires and, possibly, spark
plugs if they don't look pristine. Double check the points setting,
using a dwell meter to get it right. Oil the bushings in the distributor
while you have the old points out, and check that the advance mechanism
is oiled and working.
Adjust the valves when the sparkplugs are out. You can adjust them with
plugs in, but turning the engine is easier with them out. Do again once
the engie is running well.
Make sure all the bolts to the carb are snug. THere are two at the
bottom that are hard to reach. They don't have to be ubertight, but good
and snug.
Fire her up. Once running half well, spray a can of carb cleaner down
the carb. ( I'm suspecting that stale gas is the root of your problems
here) It will smoke and belch and be embarassing, but the stuff does
tend to clean off crud. Also, install a new air cleaner unless you know
the old one is low mileage. Put a pint of dry-gas into the fuel tank.
If the engine ran OK before storage, then the carb adjustment should be
OK. The choke can stick. That's external (mostly) and you can check to
see that the three little screws holding the water cover on are in place.
That pointer should line up in the center of the scale. It's obvious when
you look at it. Careful with those screws--they go into very soft metal
and are easy to strip.
At this point, if the problem was just lack of use, the car's
performance should be slightly better, and it will continue to improve as
the old gas gets used up and replaced by fresh fuel. My cars tend to
stumble in the springtime, after a winter of limited use.
Bob
On Wed, 01 Sep 1999 18:18:51 -0400 Scott/Michelle <mcjsr@talstar.com>
writes:
>Well it all started a few months back (six to be exact) when upon a
>crazy
>whim I decided to buy the pretty 75B, and upon arrival at my house she
>was
>in a sad state of disrepair. With love and diligence I had tons of
>work done
>to her, by a friend who ia a great mechanic.....but specializes in
>VW's.
>well now to her latest ailment. DPO says she was rebuilt 5000 miles
>ago, and
>then she sat....she sat and rotted for four glorious years...until we
>lost
>our minds, and bought her. Well she burns almost as much oil as gas
>these
>days, and has an extreme loss of power. We only have had her on the
>street
>a short time...about a month. Upon acceleration she seems very
>sluggish, and
>of course there is the ever present white/blue smoke drafting from her
>tailpipe like a cancerous flag waving in the wind of fate. My question
>is
>this, where do I start to trouble shoot, it almost seems as if she
>isn't
>getting the gas feed she needs, but she does accelerate, just very
>poorly.
>Upon idle she kind of chugs, and shakes with a bitter rhythm. Before
>you
>laugh yourselves to death just realize that my mechanical knowledge,
>**though growing** is obviously limited to the problems I have had to
>fix
>already...and this is a new one. I know most of you probably chuckle a
>bit
>when you read my posts, and say....is this guy for real....but hey I
>am
>giving it a try, and trying like hell to keep this LBC going! *LOL*
>
>Scott 75B
>in need of a caretaker with a better set of tools, and more knowledge
>of how
>to use em!
>
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