Hello and help from St. Louis.

I would question whether the fuel pump is supplying the needed flow, regardless (or maybe because of) the regulator.  Is the pump rated to put out at least 3psi?  If it can only do 1 or 2 the regulator won't matter.

Hey St Louis.  I'm here in Lake St Louis and

not many of us here in the shadow of the

Gateway Arch. I have a GREAT mechanic who

is very good and reasonable. Of course this forum

is the go to source.  I own a VS.  We should

meet up.

Terry---soundfs like you have your Speedster running well now after the earlier post.  One of the secrets to keeping these cars going well is a good mechanic and it sounds like you have that now.  Spend some tiome to locate an alignment shop who has a tech who has done a l-o-t of VW Bugs back in the day to check your alignment.  The young guys have no idea about what to turn to get the car into specs----even if they can locate the specs!

I found a foreign car place in my town that can literally do anything. When I had leaking rear seals they diagnosed it, located the parts (seals and bearings)and insotalled them beautifully.  That's a nasty and difficult job as the rear bearings get lubed with transmission oil that seeps down the swing axles.  When the seals  go the insode of the rear wheel and tires become slathered with tranny oil.  This also ruined my rear disc pads--really a mess. Great to have a local "go-to" place if you are just an average wrench like me. 

Consider attending the "Corn Daze" event June 6 &7 right up the road from you near Peoria, Ill .  Look under "Events" for details. I'm going this year, driving my VS from Hot Springs, AR.

and will overnight in St Louis at the Cheshire Inn Thursday, 6/5. We can caravan together.

You will find that having a Speedster is great fun but more than half the fun is attending events like Carlisle and Corn Daze to hang out with the knuckleheads (Fellow owners) 

and as a matter of fact you can make it to Carlisle this year and join the Midwest Caravan.

Let's get dinner and talk Speedsters on the Hill in St Louis on 6/5?

Two good electric fuel pumps;

1.  Mallory 4070 with the 4309 regulator 

2. C.B. Performance rotary electric fuel pump P/N 3193  (DSElf regulating)

I have a 5 mile limit with my lawn mower.  Get that car sorted and join the fun! 

Give me your phone number and I'll call you about dinner on The Hill June 5th!

T.,   Call Ed at St Charles Foreign Car.  636.946.7023

1205 North Second Street.  Tell him I referred you.

He's great .

Tfarrell, after you're up and running, do plan on making it to Corn Daze 3, we're expecting a pretty good turn out this year.

Just possibly a bad condensor or coil.  If you can swap distributors out and that fixes it, the condensor is bad. Coils notoriously fail when they get warm.  Just a thought.

Try loosening the gas cap.  If it isn't vented either thru a vent or vented gas cap it could be a vaccum lock preventing air getting in to displace used gas.

A spare coil and 009 are a good idea for everybody but El Guapo (who needs no spares, or whatnots to go 250K mi on an 1835), but I'm with Fpcopo VS (the man without a name) here. 75% of "carburation problems" are ignition.

I like the coil and the fuel tank vent. Also, if the car had sat a while there just might be a bit of crud somewhere near the bottom of the tank that slides over the spigot and cuts the flow. I had that happen to me too. This won't be a big deal whatever it is. 

Terry:  

I'm a bit surprised that no one has mentioned this, but these cars, especially when running a mechanical fuel pump and dual carbs, can easily develop vapor lock in the fuel line(s), usually between the pump and the carbs.  Make sure the fuel hoses aren't lying directly on top of the head tins or anyplace where they could get hot.  Same thing for the rubber hose going from the frame to the fuel pump - It is usually run just above the front, left exhaust pipe coming from the head and if it gets hot and gets an air bubble in there the flow will be greatly reduced (usually stops). 

Just look around and see if the hoses are lying on the heads or tins and simply move them away or higher up.  A simple fix that takes just a few minutes and if it doesn't improve things, then try the other stuff up above.

In addition, an electric fuel pump in-line up front under the gas tank, pushing fuel to the rear (rather than the mechanical pump trying to suck it through the line) will definitely improve the situation, as the electric pump pushes fuel and bubbles through almost no matter what.

Nope, shouldn't be the coil - sounds like fuel starvation.  Check the fuel filters (there may be more than one) or a clogged, rubber fuel line.

Maybe your carbs are the type that have their own separate internal filters?  Look where the fuel enters the carb.

My Dells have a fuel filter as part of the fuel inlet.  This reminds me to check them before I launch for Carlisle!

Your symptoms are exactly like the collapsed fuel filter I had installed during my cars initial build up....   Could not figure out why I was starving for gas above 1500 / 1700 rpm.....  New filter....  Wix....  Go figure....  Installed a C.B. Perf pump along with a NEW filter, VIOLA it runs....   Hope yours is that simple....

Yes they do. Usually they work or they don't. I'm not saying the module can't go bad after a few minutes, but not likely. Make sure the module is screwed down tight, and grounded as well.

Terry, it's sometimes miraculous how problems a previous owner never had can crop up the instant a new owner takes possession.

Occasionally it turns out that these problems have something to do with why the previous owner has become previous.

In any case, besides the good advice you've already gotten here, another thing that may be causing this is carburetor floats not properly set. When my car was new, it had similar symptoms which were fixed by a simple float adjustment. Anyone who knows these carbs will be able to do that pretty easily.

One of the first things to get properly sorted on any new (or new to you) Speedster is the carbs. If you don't know the drill, find someone who does to show you how on your first go around. After that, you can probably do most of it yourself.

Terry:  

Looks like Stan was right - it's an ignition problem.

If three cylinders are OK, but when you pull the fourth plug wire nothing happens, then it has to be one of the following: bad rotor, bad distributor cap, bad plug wire or bad plug.  

Go for it!

Wow, I'm sorry about the attitude.  He's

always been more than accommodating.

Gordon, it may not be an ignition problem. The single throat duals sometimes run on two cylinders at idle, so pulling a wire at idle may not show a change.....