1969 Mini-Restoration

[dolppl]

New here.

Just got my wife a 1969 Beetle and doing some ‘clean up’ work on it.

Car runs
Just wanted to update some things to make it nicer and run better.

Changing front drum brakes to discs
New Muffler
All new wiring
Bunch of ‘little’ things

Got all my parts from JBugs so far and have watched a lot of JBugs videos. (Worked out nice that they have a whole restoration series on 1969)

Lots of questions are popping up as I do the ‘mini-restoration’ (wasnt sure what to call the work I’m doing) Figured I’d start a thread to keep them all in one place.

First question:
Not familiar at all with carburetors. Could someone give me a quick primer on how they work the classic VW.

Specifically: My wiring diagram has a wire going from the + side of the coil to the idle solenoid and to the choke. But my carb does not have any electronic choke. Is that normal? If so, is there a manual choke (I haven’t seen anything)? Or is that not necessary for some reason. When I bought the car the previous owner told me to press the pedal once then fire it up. Never had an issue.

Also, some of the pictures of Beetle engines I see a hose running from the carb to a cylinder attached to the distributor. I assume it is some sort of vacuum. Mine does not have this cylinder unit on the distributor and where the hose attaches to the carb mine has a small piece of hose that is block off on the end.

I have watched a lot of videos and researched and I can’t get these answers that’s why I am coming here

Thank you in advance.

[dolppl]

Adding a picture of my carb

[kpf]

Welcome to The Samba!

We’d all love to see more pictures!

Looks like your car may have an older carburetor on an adapter. I’ll let smarter people talk about which specific carburetor model would be original for a ‘69. It definitely would have originally had an automatic choke.

Your car would have originally had a vacuum advance distributor.

It looks like your aftermarket air cleaner has a nipple for crankcase ventilation that is after the filter and currently open to the air. It would be good to either cap it or connect it to the crankcase vent.
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1971 Super Beetle

[vernonc]

Just for you to compare, here is a '69 engine which is original except for the fuel filter. Hope this helps.

ol' mort
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"Those who don't read newspapers are un-informed. Those who do read newspapers are mis-informed." Will Rogers

'69 sedan, low mileage, all original.....currently being 'freshened-up' for road trips and daily driving...just not every day

Freshening-up link http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=617386

[bomberbob]

Post a photo of the side of the carb so we can see what model it is. Is the throttle cable attached to the generator side of the carb, or just not hooked up?
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1968 Beetle (storage)
1990 Jetta GLI megasquirted, burning E85 (currently in heavy maintenance)
2004 Jetta turbo GLI
Marion, Iowa

[dolppl]

The engine is actually out of the vehicle right now to make running the wiring easier, therefore the throttle cable is not hooked up.

[dolppl]

The side of the carb says:
SOLEX
H-30-PIC
Made in Brazil

[Q-Dog]

Looks like a maunual choke carburetor. A '69 Beetle would have had an electrically operated automatic choke. So, unless someone added a choke cable, that isn't going to work very well.

This is how that carb should look. Also, make sure the crappy air filter mounting clamp isn't fouling the upper carb linkage.

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Brian

'69 Dune Buggy
'69 Beetle Convertible
'70 Beetle

[dolppl]

Thanks for the info.
Would you replace the carb with one with an automatic choke?
Can you just add an automatic choke to the carb that is currently on there?
Would you add a manual choke?

Like I said previously the car fired up first try and ran well the few times i ran it before I started tearing it apart. Just had to press the gas pedal down once then turn the key.

[Q-Dog]

Leave it alone if it is working for you. But understand, it may become hard to start in cold weather.

If it were me I would install a correct carburetor and matching distributor, but I may have at least a couple of usable ones on the shelf.
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Brian

'69 Dune Buggy
'69 Beetle Convertible
'70 Beetle

[dolppl]

I’m all about doing things the right way and if it will make my life easier in the future I’m on board. I would like when I’m done with this to just be able to turn the key and go

What carb and matching distributor would go with my ‘69 single port?

I’m not worried about keeping this ‘original’. Just want it to mostly be stock no extra performance or bells and whistles.

The carb that is on there right now as I said before is a H-30-PIC
The distributor right now is a Kuhltek 0231 178 009 EL
The previous owner gave me the original distributor which is a 113 905 205 T.

He said he changed it out because he didn’t like messing with the points.

[kpf]

[dolppl]

This may also be helpful. This is the engine number. Am I reading this correctly and is this mean that the engine is a 1961 because it starts with a 5?

[dolppl]

Giving this a bump because I have a big order ready to go out and if I need to add a carb to that order I will. Looking to get this car back together ASAP and back on the road.

Looking for some consensus.

Thanks.

[Q-Dog]

Engine number doesn't mean much. Carburetor and distributor need to match. Figure out if your original distributor works. If it does, get a carburetor to match it.

There are carburetor and distributor rebuilders that frequent this site. (search the Samba classifieds) They can advise you on whether your parts are functional or need a rebuild ... and also what parts work properly with the parts you already have. Rebuilt originals are much, much better quality than aftermarket replacements.
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Brian

'69 Dune Buggy
'69 Beetle Convertible
'70 Beetle

[dolppl]

Ok onto the next question. It looks like someone replace the original ignition switch and took it off the steering column and put it on the dash. I would like to go back and put it on the steering column.
2 issues.
1. I cannot for the life of me figure out how to remove the old ignition switch.
2. I cannot find where I can get the housing that the ignition switch will go into if i put it back on the steering column. It looks like there should be a cast piece that goes into the steering column and then the new switch goes into that. Having trouble find the cast piece.

Any help is appreciated.

[bomberbob]

1. There should be a mounting nut, probably sunk into the dashboard padding. Spin that off, the switch will come out.
2. Look in the classified section. I searched for ignition switch, scrolled through. I think you can find the pieces you need.
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1968 Beetle (storage)
1990 Jetta GLI megasquirted, burning E85 (currently in heavy maintenance)
2004 Jetta turbo GLI
Marion, Iowa

[1968BUGMAN]

I see that nobody has really explained how carbs work. They are very simple, on most carbs you have a couple basic things. Idle jet, main jet, mixture screw, idle screw. Yes there are many more things, but these are the absolute basics. Im also not too familiar with that carb as I use dual 34 ICTs but Ill explain what I can. Idle jet is what delivers fuel at idle, a higher size jet provides more fuel. Main jet provides fuel at higher rpms. Mixture screw controls your air to fuel ratio. Screwing it in provides a leaner mixture (less fuel), screwing it out is richer. Look up how to set this for your carb. The idle screw will set your idle rpms. Pretty basic, also there is a accelerator pump jet, this pumps gas in when the pedal is pressed, it is initial fuel for the engine to use until the jets catch up. This is generally adjusted by a nut on the carb. You might want to try to find a rebuild stock carb that matches your car, plus it will be a bit bigger, so more power.
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1968 Beetle Project | https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...ae8942450a
Installing a Stereo Into a Classic VW | https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=9502179#9502179

[dolppl]

All good information I thank you all. I am working on this car daily so lots of questions come up as I am working on it.

Next question. Seats don't want to slide forward and backward very easily. Gotta hit it with a dead blow hammer alternating side to side to get to go forward then it is a pain in the neck to get it to line up with the notches to keep it in place.

I took the seat off and cleaned both sides of the slides with a wire brush and hit is with some WD-40 and then some lubricant i had laying around (can't remember exactly what it was now). But it didn't seem to help. Looked like both the bottom and top were in decent shape not overly dinged up or crooked or anything.

Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

[1968BUGMAN]

Yeah mine didnt work so I went aftermarket. Im too lazy to fix what I have sometimes. Sometimes you have to wiggle them along, like rock the seat back and forth while you try to slide it. Also, make sure that the lever on the seat is working properly. Not super helpful, but that's all I got.
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1968 Beetle Project | https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...ae8942450a
Installing a Stereo Into a Classic VW | https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=9502179#9502179