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Wed Oct 22, 2008 11:46 am

Hi guys, I just purchased a 73 beetle for $900. The pan is pretty solid 1 small hole and one patch panel. The motor was supposedly rebuilt 5,000 miles ago and is 1600 dual port. It made the two hour highway trip home without any major problems. It doesn't smoke at all, not even upon start up or heavy throttle.

But I do experience some drive ability issues. At low rpm, especially from take off, the bug has a tendency to bog down and sputter. If I feather the throttle it will take off and once up in rpms it runs like a bat outta hell.

What I've done:

The previous owner had not adjusted the valves since the rebuild, so not surprising they were quite tight. I set all valves to .006 and that has helped considerably with starting and idling.

I checked dwell = 52.3
Checked timing = 5 degrees ATDC at idle.
Used starting fluid to do some cursory checks for vacuum leaks.

Concerns:

The car has a 34PICT3 and a 009 distributor. I am worried that these two are incompatible, the PO said that the guy he bought it from told him it had the wrong carb.

Thanks in advance and here are some pics.

Wed Oct 22, 2008 12:36 pm

GostaBerling wrote:
I checked dwell = 52.3
Checked timing = 5 degrees ATDC at idle.
Concerns:

The car has a 34PICT3 and a 009 distributor.
Reset dwell to 50... ish, if possible.
5ATDC is way too retarded for the distributor. Static time to 7.5BTDC, or total advance should be around 28-30BTDC at 3k RPM.
Should help immensely with startup. You'll definately need to reset idle speed though.

Wed Oct 22, 2008 12:40 pm

GostaBerling wrote: But I do experience some drive ability issues. At low rpm, especially from take off, the bug has a tendency to bog down and sputter. If I feather the throttle it will take off and once up in rpms it runs like a bat outta hell.

The car has a 34PICT3 and a 009 distributor. I am worried that these two are incompatible, the PO said that the guy he bought it from told him it had the wrong carb.

The 009 distributor is the problem...NOT the carburetor. You'll never completely rid yourself of the hesitation you describe until you get a correct, vacuum advance, distributor to match the carburetor. Glenn, and some others here can probably tell you which models will work well, or you can find the model numbers on the internet, I just can't remember where at the moment.

Wed Oct 22, 2008 7:45 pm

OH the woe of the 009. They never end. But what on a vw doesnt?

Thu Oct 23, 2008 6:57 pm

As mentioned above, set the 009 to 7.5 BTDC. While the 34 PICT is not the best carb for that distributor, the issue sometimes get blown out of proportion. I've run 009/34 PICT with a couple motors and there was only a slight hesitation at lower rpms.

Do some searching for a stock vacuum advance carb if the timing change doesn't reduce the bogging. I sold my last one a couple years ago and can't recall the part number...someone else on here will surely know :)

Thu Oct 23, 2008 7:21 pm

look in the classifieds for a distributor with it ending I think in 205T that is a great dizzy.

Thu Oct 23, 2008 10:15 pm

Retime for now but for a daily driver you will want to replace that 009 with a SVDA. The 009 is not a bad dizzy but it is made for after market carbs that don't have a vac signal for vac advance and for racing type driving.

The lag is intolerable for a daily driver. Those that say the 009 is OK have fiddled with it to get it acceptable but I don't think they are aware at how smooth a SVDA works.

I can turn 90' corners in 3rd and gently pull away. I can slow down to almost a stop in 2nd and floor it and it will pull away smoothly, no lag or hesitation. I can putt along at idle speed in 1st and gently pull away or floor it and zoom off smoothly. Lack of vac advance (or a vac leak) make these things hard to do.

I just scrapped a '73 so let me know if you need any odd parts.

jim

Fri Oct 24, 2008 8:40 am

Thanks for the advice, I am aware of the 009 problems but had always assumed them to be in the upper rpm. Now I know better, I am going to try and stop by my local VW mechanic today and see if he might have a good used svda, preferably a 205t.

Otherwise I will retime it to 7.5 BTDC.

Fri Oct 24, 2008 3:29 pm

Well the mechanic didn't have any used distributors and I cannot afford a new one. So it's off to the classifieds. I am looking at this one...

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=663280

It is a 205 AN. Should I hold out for a 205T or would this do the trick?