Idles great and revs in the drivewy wont accel on the road

[djway3474]

I am trying to get this engine running after I picked the car up from a guy who says it has been sitting a while but that it ran and it only has 4000mi on it. Up front, this is my first VW in 30 years and engines seemed like voodoo to me back then so Lee Leighton did all my motor stuff back then. So when it comes to understanding engines I am lacking. Now due to health and finances it is up to me to fix these days. I have Everything in this car in working order now except for the engine.
Supposed to be an 1835 with dual dellorto frds, 009 distributor. Cleaned the tank and resealed, cleaned the carbs ( one was really full of crusty stuff the other was OK) changed filters and lines. New wires, cap and rotor look fairly new, weights move fine in the distributor . It must have a good cam or lifters as the rocker arms have to be shimmed to be able to adjust. It has the swivle feet on the adjusters.
Has great oil pressure. Heads all properly torqued.
Symptoms, fires right up with little to no gas needed to start. Idles great by sound. Revs up quick while sitting but sounds slightly different in the right bank, I think. Take it onto the road and it will not accelerate. Sounds totally flat. Slow or quick throttle it starts to go then noting and just stays there. It jumps and even got a tire chirp then FLAT.
I looked down the cabrs and revd it up and both carbs are flowing a considerable amount of fuel. But that is sitting in the driveway.
It sounds like the right bank is not as crisp as the left so I pulled #1 wire and it really did not change anything. Reattached and pulled #2 and it seemed to worsen slightly. Pull 3 and 4 and it gets worse. Pulled # 1 plug and it seemed slighty moist if at all after idle. #2 looked good. I lay the #1 plug on the tin and it did spark and the motor started with just a second of cranking without the plug in. This thing wants to run.
I tired advancing the distributor until it started getting a little harder to start and that did not help acelleration under load.
The valves have been adjusted again after inserting better spacers but I can do again if you think I may have missed something there. Linkage is working great as I have adjusted it and attached new heims.
Any ideas where to start? Remember you are talking to a poor engine novice.

[priss]

I'm not a mechanic, but i read alot of engine threads on the forum.

You are going to have to perform a compression test and post results to get the diagnostic folks here to chime in.
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[jfats808]

Double check dist point gap. Manifold air leaking? I'd start simple and investigate why when u pull a plug wire there's no response. Change/check the plug gap and clean. Same time check if they all fire. Bad plugs can be the culprit.
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[madmike]

I had a buggy in the shop a few yrs ago about the same thing,turn out to be the shitty Brand NEW colored plug wires
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[AlteWagen]

I recently worked on a car with a similar problem, sitting for years with low mileage engine. Did the whole tune up thing using bosch parts (points, condensor, cap, rotor, wires) for a brazil 009 plus oil change etc. Changed the valve cover gaskets and the heads did look pretty new. Set static timing and started it up. Idled nice and sounded normal but under accelleration there was no power over 2000 rpm. I put a timing light on it to check total advance and saw it would not go over 20* at ANY rpm. The distributor looked new as well. I put on my spare 009 and the vehicle ran as it should.

I broke down the 009 and saw all the grease had hardened and would not allow the weights to open fully. After cleaning, lubing it worked as good as a 009 will.

[djway3474]

thanks
I have already opened up the distb and checked the weight movement. going to replace plugs, recheck and double check the point gap and I will even recheck valves that side if the earlier stuff does not help.
I hope to be able to get my tools out of storage soon when I move to new place then I can dig out my dwell meter and light and check the actual advance and then check compression if it is still going goofy on me.

[mark tucker]

sounds lean, but hard to tell from hear.

[scotth17]

Rotor?

[sturgeongeneral]

Sounds like valves may be too tight.
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[djway3474]

Well here is what I found today. When I changed the plugs the left bank plugs were the nice pretty tan color as advertised. But, #1 is blackish and moist and # 2 slightly less so. I rechecked the point gap and it was very close but I got them closer. I rechecked the valves on the right and if anything they were slightly loose but not much. I moved the advance back down to a 6deg static (this caused and increase in poppin).
I took it on the road and it may have been slightly better but not driveable.
After the drive the left bank had heat and the right bank not near as warm.
Since the left bank works I am thinking points are OK. I am thinking the distributor shaft would cause an overall problem if bent so I am taking that out of the picture- correct? Slightly moist and dark right bank plugs tells me distributor cap or right plug wires??????? I am thinking of the right carb was not pumping fuel the right side plugs would have been showing too lean and hot correct?

[AlteWagen]

Sounds like the carb might still have crap in it. Rrev up the engine a bit and put your hand on the top of the right carb to try to "clean out" some of the internal passages. Be careful not to rev too high or your hand will have a hickie of a lifetime! Make sure to readjust the mixture screw to best lean idle and test drive again.

[djway3474]

[Frankysfree]

Dual carbs?

Check jetting. I get that with bikes. If the jetting is way off or the carbs are gummed up it can rev fine but when you put it under load it falls flat on its face. Usually happens when its way to rich but overly lean can cause it as well. I would check for intake leaks before pulling the carbs off to rule out that as well.
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[djway3474]

Well I tried every thing except for a new distributor and I was not going there so I switch carb sides. While out I decided to look for a part on an exploded view of the carb that I did not remember seeing when I had it open. I have never opened a carb before so I was just looking for things to take apart the first time.
It was the emulsion tube. Well it took me an hour to get it out there was so much powder/scale on it. I cleaned all that and then reassembled.
Fired right up.
Seems to run good. Not as strong as a motor Leighton built me years ago but that had more carb and huge heads plus what ever else he threw inside. It had fewer CCs but had way more power but its all good. I have a fully functional VW that I brought back to life with about 8 hand tools
Anyhow. Thanks to all that replied