My 1971 VW Convertible thread

[Cusser]

I purchased my 1971 VW Convertible back in 1976 from original owner for $1300, mainly because my mom had gotten her own car repossessed and if she didn't have transportation I'd be stuck after my workday picking her up and driving her to her home. So I decided a VW convertible might be something that could hold its value. I found the 1971 flat-windshield Super clementine orange/black top convertible locally, was owned by a family from Utah. It had 85K miles, was all original except for a replacement $100 cheap Rayco convertible top.

Details of mom driving it like driving a few miles in summer after the generator belt broke and red light came on - no damage - have been documented in other threads.

I had it painted VW Pastel White to surprise her in Feb. 1978 by Maaco, about $140.

I took possession back about 1979; in 1980 I lent it to my girlfriend for a month, and she Armor-All'd the top when washing it to return to me, and the black top cracked into a zillion pieces less than a month later. I called VW and asked who did their tops, and got a real nice top installed and a boot cover made from the remnants of the original one for about $400, still has that top to this day.

I'd bought aftermarket Buddy Hale wheels tires for $150, so those were installed on my Super. I replaced idler arm, 4 tie rod ends, and front bushings in the 1990s to fix the super shimmy issue.

In 2003 an oil cover stud vibrated loose from the factory engine and all the oil drained out, and Mrs. Cusser ignored the oil warning light and the oil pressure gauge going to zero and kept driving until it stalled out about 3 miles on. Even with bearing slivers on the screen, we still drove that engine like 3 more years, covered in this thread https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=197185&highlight=oil+stud So after those three years I swapped in the 1835cc engine from my 1970 sedan, and later re-built that 1600 DP engine and it's now powering my 1970.

In 2007 I installed a solid threaded insert (similar to Time-Sert but no special tools needed, that is covered in https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=8902559#8902559

In 2010 the original rear window seal started leaking, and warped my particle board rear window insert, so I made my own pieces and installed a new seal, covered in this thread https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=400550&highlight=convertible+rear+window

Last few years or decade I've noticed with the 1835cc engine with single Weber 40DCNF and German 009 had a little flat spot the first 10 minutes or so, worse when it's colder outside. I've always attributed this to carburetion issue, made worse that I have no thermostat/flaps and the Weber single intake manifold has no heat risers (it never did). So today I decided to experiment.

My Weber "fuel enrichment" was not mentioned in its instructions; I think it's something like a manual choke, so I looked into this today.


I tried to move this lever to the right, but it wouldn't move much, seemed stuck. So I removed the two screws, here's what it looked like:

The two levers engage in the recesses in the two brass cylinders; the one on the right (for #1 and #2) was stuck, had to pry to free that up. So when the lever moves to the right, the little brass cylinders move up accordingly.

I didn't have a new gasket for in there, and was too lazy to cut a new one, so I just coated it with a thin coat of Permatex Aviation and re-installed it. Then I set the lever to the mid-way position, and drove to Home Depot.

Well, the flat spot was gone, don't know if keeping in this position will overload fuel/make too rich on longer drives, but that's what experimentation is for !!! I'd be considering adding a manual cable to pull that lever to the right, and a stronger spring to bring the lever to the home position where it's been running since back in 1976.

I haven't played too much with any main jets since the late 1970s, so don't know if I have any larger mains, or even larger idle jets, around to try.
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1970 VW (owned since 1972) and 1971 VW Convertible (owned since 1976), second owner of each. The '71 now has the 1835 engine, swapped from the '70. Second owner of each. 1988 Mazda B2200 truck, 1998 Frontier, 2014 Yukon, 2004 Frontier King Cab. All manual transmission except for the Yukon. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335294 http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335297

[67rustavenger]

Nice historical write up on the vert cusser.

IF you need any Weber jets. I have plenty on hand. I can mail you what you want to try in your carb.

Thanks for posting the pics of the choke mechanism. I have never seen that before.
Maybe for the choke cable. You can use a lawn mower type of cable. You know, the friction type. It'll hold the choke in the sweet spot and then you can just push the lever to disengage the choke circuit altogether.

Have a great week!
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I have learned over the years.
Cheap parts are gonna disappoint you.
Buy Once, Cry Once!

There's never enough time to do it right the first time. But there's always enough time to do it thrice.
GFY's Xevin and VW_Jimbo!

[Cusser]