Running rough and loss of power

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My son's square back started running a bit rough the other day and has the sound and power that feels like it is running on 2 or 3 cylinders all of the sudden. It is a 1600 in 1966 6V car. The car starts and idles. The idle is a bit low. When you try to drive it you barely have enough power to get into 2nd gear and it runs out with a heavy miss.

Where do I start on finding what is the problem? Spark or Fuel first. I can pull the plugs and check spark. How do I best test the fuel delivery?

Thanks for your help.

[KahunaKombi]

Check spark plugs or if they haven't been replaced for a while then just replace them. See how it runs if if still ragged then see next.
Could be fuel filter also blocked.
Other electrical like points and/or condensor. If electrical ignition then unlikely but could be point of last resort. After that coil possibly.

If those things haven't been checked/serviced/replaced since you can't remember then a good service & replace.

[sjbartnik]

What were the circumstances leading up to this development? In other words, what happened immediately before the car started running rough.

If this happened to me out of the blue, first thing I would check is the points and timing. If the points gap closes up it can cause missing and when the gap changes it also changes the timing so that combination can make it run pretty crappy.

Of course check and make sure something stupid hasn't happened, like one of the spark plug wires coming off the plug.

You running the stock Solex dual carbs?
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1965 Volkswagen 1500 Variant S
2000 Kawasaki W650

[Bobnotch]

I'd check the valve clearances, and the points first, as both will close up. Then I'd look to see if I had a clogged fuel filter.
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Bob 65 Notch S with Sunroof
71 Notch ...aka Krunchy; build pics here;
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=249390 -been busy working
64 T-34 Ghia...aka Wolfie, under construction... http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=412120

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