1960 w/Freeway Flyer - 1835cc OPINIONS

[iadubber]

So I bought a 1960 Beetle this past winter. I was unable to drive the car due to weather. I took it up and down the driveway and street. Seemed to run/drive ok. I went back and grabbed it the next weekend.

Fast forward to now. Finally able to drive it around town. This is my second Beetle. The other was a stock 1600cc 1970 Bug with a stock trans.

Here's my issues having never owned a Freeway Flyer before. In 1st gear there is NO power whatsoever. To take off in 1st I really have to rev the shit out of it just to get up and go. It IS under carbed for an 1835. It's running a 34 PICT 3 and Bosch 009. Now I've also never ran an 009 but have read about the "Flat Spot". It seems like the car doesn't wake up until past 2500 RPMs. It's timed to 28-30 degrees at 3,000RPM. I don't recall what the timing fell back to at idle, but from what I've read it doesn't matter as much on the 009.

I guess my question is about the lack of low end power. Is it a trade off of the transmission? Is it a combination of the distributor and carb setup? Or is it a bad combination of all of them? I wanted to try going with a vacuum advance distributor first, but in these times funds are tight and I don't just want to be throwing good money after bad on this car right now.

[mukluk]

A freeway flyer transmission doesn't use a different first gear ratio from stock, it's set up with a tall fourth gear for reduced revs when cruising at speed. It should have the same ratios in first through third as a stock transaxle. If it's been paired with the later 3.88 ring and pinion, that will make the overall gearing taller than what you're used to in your '70 which likely has a 4.125 R&P.

To me it sounds like whomever built the engine used too aggressive of a cam or the cam timing is retarded. Other possibilities are you need a bit more ignition timing (you might try 32° total or slightly more if the engine doesn't run hot or ping), the carburetor may be underjetted especially if it still has stock 1600 jets, the heads may have valves that are too large for your setup, or the compression ratio is low/too much deck height.
_________________
1960 Ragtop w/Semaphores "Inga"

[cdubz]

Pro tip.....

This seems to come up every Spring....

If you didn't use any Fuel Stabilizer, try draining your OLD gas out and refilling with Super...

This usually gets the engine running smooth again....

Also before you store your vehicle for the winter, add some Stabil Fuel Stabilizer..

*Edit*
I'd also run some dual Kads from Kaddy Shack, or at least upgrade the carb to a larger one.... you'll get some crazy gains that way... Although Duals are a pain to setup properly if you are not experienced...

[Cusser]

[lboos]

Cussr,
When are you going to put some wax on that yellow convt.
I'll bet it's a beautiful bug when all cleaned up for inspection. get'er done

I don't mean a state insp. I meant a people insp. just admiring it as you drive by. '

[Cusser]

[iadubber]

After talking with a few people I'm leaning to just not enough carb. The accel pump is working but I think I need to figure out how to max that out right now and save up for a dual carb setup.

[AZOffTheWall]

It's under carbed, but you should be able to make it run pretty well with 34's especially in the lower rpm range. 3.88 box with stock 1st will still pull pretty well that's not your issue. Do a compression or leak down test to see what the condition of the motor is, may be worn out or have really low compression. Could also be way to big of a cam, really the only way to know would be to tear it down and see what you have, probably not what you want to hear
_________________
My Build: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=665399&highlight=
Continued:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=676470&highlight=

[vwoldbug]

Maybe do a search on the carb and check the size of the idle jet and main jet.