Late to the party, as usual. Interesting view into our little community on this post. All hands here to help, espy Gordon. Generally speaking most have been there, done that. Glad to hear that the issue was resolved. Hope the first thing out of the barn was to be sure that there is a full tank of new gas in there too. Plus some Seafoam, or similar. Saw my name used in vain a couple of times. Just the beginning of my uneasy education about Weber carbs, continuing to this day. These are racing components not especially designed to work in the rain. The tops are open and if exposed to rain directly, can admit said water into the float chamber (never a good idea) or down the throat and hence into any cylinder with an intake valve open. Water is incompressible, and so when you try to do that enormous pressure (hydrolock) results. Cure: remove spark plug, crank it over a bunch of times, expelling the water, replace spark plug and carry on.
I wish Justin well, and hope he has the desire to learn about his car and how it operates. Else he may end up rather much disappointed, or having developed a new friend down at the local air-cooled VW shop, if there is one. Recommend the Premium version of AAA. If have a mechanical fuel pump, get an electric one installed that puts out the proper low pressure. That should obviate what happened here.
