TheSamba.com :: View topic - took my car out, now i have a few questions

Mon Jul 11, 2005 10:26 am

my car was running (and starting) fine until we actually got it off road. we were going along and the car just died, and then wouldn't start back up. sounded exactly like it was out of gas, but it wasn't. it would turn over ,but not start. so we push started it, and it was fine. but every once in awhile, it would just die again. generally happened uphill, but wasn't only going uphill. we could easily push start it, but it wouldn't just start on it's own. i have a feeling that the starter is bad. we were talking to John at topline and he said it could be a 12v starter mated with a 6v flywheel, so we're pulling the engine on friday to check that out.

but what would make it just die like that? it's dying like it's running out of gas. but on the street, it doesn't die at all (which makes me think something is rattling loose). what would be the things to check?

we turned the idle up a little to see if that would help, but it didn't do much. i want to take it back down, but what's the best way to sync the 2 carbs?

and then, harnesses. the seats are ready for 5 point harnesses. should i go with those, or would it really matter if i just got 4 points? and the bar behind the seats seems a little low to me. i read some where on here about how the harnesses should pull you down, but just keep you in place. i think they would be pulling down where the bar is set up now. you can kinda see it in this picture. i have no problem spending the money on 5-points if they're going to be better (safer), just curious if they're necessary.

i think that's it for now. thanks.

Mon Jul 11, 2005 11:06 am

Could be the Carb, Idle solenoid going bad, Timing off a bit, but its probably the carb due to going uphill and the bouncing around off road. What carb are you running?

Mon Jul 11, 2005 11:19 am

Nicksan wrote: Could be the Carb, Idle solenoid going bad, Timing off a bit, but its probably the carb due to going uphill and the bouncing around off road. What carb are you running? i believe they're solex carbs.

Mon Jul 11, 2005 1:38 pm

All the bouncing around is flooding out your carbs. There should be an overflow vent to your float bowl just inside your carb. Get some vaccum tube and extend the overflow tube up a couple of inches. I had the exact same problem when I was running a 1600 with a 34. I think its in the "How To Build Bajas And Buggies" book also. The bouncing around and climbing uphill cause the float to overfill. The overflow pours into the carb and floods you out. The home made tube extenders worked fine until I sprung for a Weber 40 that had the extended emulsion tubes.

Mon Jul 11, 2005 6:50 pm

flipped cracker wrote: Nicksan wrote: Could be the Carb, Idle solenoid going bad, Timing off a bit, but its probably the carb due to going uphill and the bouncing around off road. What carb are you running? i believe they're solex carbs.

If they are dual solex's they are most likely "kadrons". You realy need to be sure on that. If so then you need to go to lowbugget.com and spend some time surfing the site. there you should be able to find The "anti-slosh tubes" that will take care of your stumbling/dying offroad. I also reccommend getting the airtop kit as well at the same time as it just makes secne to me to loose the restricing center mount for the airfilter when the slosh kit goes in.

Lowbugget is also the place you want to deal with for fine tuning those carbs, and has really good base info about and how to tune them.

As far as your starting problem, well does it normally start fine or does it make funny noises /grinds/sticks etc...? It might just not want to easily start offroad because you have filled the chambers up with raw fuel!

Mon Jul 11, 2005 7:04 pm

thanks for the info. when it starts normally, there's a really high pitch screech. usually starts right up, but sounds nasty. ever since taking it off road, it hasn't started up every time. and i have no way to tell if it's going to start or not because it seems pretty random to me.

Mon Jul 11, 2005 7:23 pm

i think i'm just going to take my bug to lowbugget since it's not that far from me. i'm wondering, though, what the air top kit looks like. i mean how do i know if i have that already or not? i'm such a newbie.

Tue Jul 12, 2005 5:30 am

flipped cracker wrote: i think i'm just going to take my bug to lowbugget since it's not that far from me. i'm wondering, though, what the air top kit looks like. i mean how do i know if i have that already or not? i'm such a newbie.

If there are 2 wingnuts holding the air cleaner down instead of just one center one, you have the Air top kit. If you have some sort of long tubing up inside the air cleaner, you have an anti-slosh kit.

Tue Jul 12, 2005 7:37 am

ok, then i do have the airtop kit because there are two wingnuts holding the air cleaner down. don't have the anti-slosh kit though.

you can see in this pic:

Tue Jul 12, 2005 10:15 am

with all that chrome you think it would run really good.....

just kidding, good luck w/ the problem. i guess i've been lucky.

Tue Jul 12, 2005 11:34 am

how would i know if they're solex or kadron? is there a difference? they say solex on them.