My dual carb 1600 has a bit of hesitation when I floor the gas pedal and it is blowing black soot out the exhaust onto the back of the car and bumper, so I guessed, "running rich". Looking for info I found the link below, which talks about adjusting the accelerator pump. Does anyone have info that will confirm the link is correct/good? I'd rather not take one person's idea without knowing it is OK.
I have balanced the carbs with a uni-sync and set the idle screws correctly. Next?
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Here's another good source for trouble shooting/adjusting Kadrons:
Here's one of his videos on adjusting a Kadron accelerator pump.
Yeah, start with adjusting the accelerator pumps; main jets (and possibly idles) could be too big as well. Make sure timing is correct and plugs are firing as well, or you're wasting your time adjusting carburetion. When was the last time the valves were set?
Anybody seen a similar video for adjusting Weber and Dellorto accelerator pumps?
I'll have to go look, I believe the distributor is not vacuum advance. Note, I spend as little time as possible in the engine compartment so I really don't know for sure. This is a 1972 chassis, so I assumed a re-built '72 engine. Anybody know if the engine number offers the year built?
When I bought the car three years ago, there was less than 6000 miles showing. Mechanically, the engine/transmission are in great shape. I have only put about 500 miles a year on it so far. Just want it to be a little better for the short trips in town.
Thanks Ron, I had been at kaddieshack site, went back this morning and found another video link I'm going to watch. Seems like I'm going to take the carbs off the engine and bench check them. $#^*&!#! ):
Thanks to everyone for the input, I'll be working on this over the weekend, will let you know what I find. Working all day today cutting up an old hot tub to put in a dumpster.
The engine # will be on the bottom of the generator/alternator stand, and start with a letter or 2.
I checked the engine number and then researched samba/decode and found that I have a 1973 - 1600. I set the points to 16, dwell at 4500 and timing is right on center of marks, slightly advanced. I'll mark for degrees and re-check. Distributor is centrifugal. Putting in new plugs tomorrow, then adjusting the valves and last, carbs.
Will keep posting as things progress.
Ted I sent you a dialog
Craig, IMHO, always set the timing at 3000-3500 rpm, 28-30 degrees. If there is a vacuum port, then disconnect it. I never worry about timing at idle unless the car is running poorly.
Gordon, check out this guy, I found him when I was doing some aftermarket brake research. I kind of like his style. He has a whole series of videos, but a bunch on Dellortos and Webers. TheEZGZ on youtube.com
Art, It's a centrifugal distributor. I'll check into changing it after I check the valves to see how they are.
Danny - "Aftermarket brakes" - If you are looking for disc brakes, buyer beware. I bought a complete 4 wheel set from an Arizona vendor and they were complete junk. It is a L_O_N_G story, but after a year plus, I still didn't have decent brakes. Vendor said he would replace them (with what, more of the same?) after I had them all installed and I was not going to undo all that work. I had to have a local shop machine the hubs and they couldn't even get them to be square to the axle and true. My only resort now is going to be to have them turned on the car, but I really don''t want to take meat off a new rotor. I guess I'll get them on the machine and see how much it's going to take. Three of the rotors were off as much as 12-14 mil, with 2 mil being acceptable.
If I had to do my brakes again I'd build my own. I'd start with a custom set of caliper brackets from this guy:
http://vdubengineering.com/brake-parts-kits/
and then I'd buy new brake lines, rotors, and Wilwood calipers from different online sources.
Brakes - Sorry, I meant thousandths, not mils.
Crag, I got what you meant. I believe I got the same stuff. They all bolted on without a problem. Got 4 piston front and single piston with e-brake rear, wide5.
I do have to move the wheel centers on the front, the new fronts are about 1/2" wider per side than the old. My old were CSP solid discs from Germany, and they were about 3/8" wider than stock already. It would be nice if the vendor advertised the actual width on his site....... I have no problem re-centering the wheels, but it would have been nice to know beforehand.
I believe the majority of his customers have beetles with narrowed beams....
I did expect to do a little work, as I have a Spyder. The rear brake hoses were too short(expected) as Spyders have longer trailing arms. I also had to extend the e-brake tubes, the provided cables were not quite long enough. I ended up using 32" hoses, the ones provided were 24" I think.
Last comment for this thread -
I adjusted the valves yesterday. One cyl right on, one cyl loose, two cyls tight. Got it OK. Runs great, still think it's rich at idle and I'm going to re-check and set the idle mix screws one last time. Going to live with what I've got. It is what it is. I think my calculation for MPG was off because I didn't know that the gas tank was so small. I was assuming 15-16 gallons, not 9-10. I'll fill up this week and do an accurate check.
Thanks for everyone's input on the carbs, etc.
craig
For those who have increased their tank size, what have you done? and does it vary from one builder to another, VS; CMC; JPS; et al ?
Cheers
Art- There is a larger stock style tank available-
Thanks, Al. I should have mentioned, mine is a '73 super beetle, which according to the site won't fit.
If I had only researched this more carefully, I would not have gotten a pan of a"73 super beetle. This creates one problem after another.
This just wears me out. MY fault for not understanding and researching CAREFULLY.
Peace out! 
I didn't even know it was possible to use a super beetle pan when building a 356 replica.
Art- Do you have pics of your car? How are the tops of the struts supported? The body provides the support/anchor points for the tops of the MacPherson struts in a Super Beetle. Or was the frame head changed to use a beetle beam? What gas tank do you have now?
Ron- I didn't either; I may learn something tonight!
I don't mind the small 8 gallon gas tank because it allows a small spare tire to fit into the front trunk.
My VS gets 27-30 mpg on the highway and I plan for 25 mpg which gives a max range of 200 miles. I use 175 mile legs so I have a cushion of 25 miles when it's time to gas up. It takes about 2:20 to go 175 miles at 75 and I am always ready to stretch my legs after 2:20 in the Speedster!
It's simple to check fuel consumption using the odometer and at 1/2 full I always see at least 100 miles covered and it can often be up to 120 miles at 1/2 tank. If I don't see that 100+ muiles at 1/2 tank then I failed to top it off at the last fillup or sumpin's wrong.
Al;
It's a beetle beam. 8 gal. I note Jack's wise comments about fitting a spare in with the smaller tank. I think, that would be best for me. I have a wheel, just need to get an emergency tire.
Art
Art : not all "Super Beetle" pans were created equal. Back in the day, the buyer had a choice of the old style beam or a McPherson Strut front end for years 1970-1973 or 1974. Sounds like you have the old style beam, so it should fit under a speedster body just fine. I built a speedster body on a '71 or '72 "Super Beetle" pan and it had a beam front end, too. Reworking the pan to get it ready for the speedster body was no different than using an earlier Pan.
Going from a McPherson Strut front end to a beam is a whole lot of welding and fabricating unless you can find a conversion kit and THOSE have become Unobtanium.
