1. when my baja is parked on a hill fuel leaks into the sump. would this be the needle and seat in the carbie? its a 30 pict solex. i parked it on a steep driveway once and it blew smoke and coughed alot and so i never parked on a hill again but while it was getting fixed after the accident it was jacked up at the mechies with the nose in the air and when les took it for a test drive with the new front end it blew oil everywhere and it was pretty lucky it didnt blow the motor. after an oil change the sump had about 70% fuel in it:o the oil bath air filter also had fuel in it which was causing it to choke a bit. can i rebuild the carbie myself and how much would a kit be and from where?

2. at full lock my passenger side front tire rubs on the 2 nuts on the front end assembly. its a 215 on 14ins rim ....can i adjust this easily?

[Edited on 15-6-2004 by Anthiron]

MOst beetles with wide tyres rub on the torsion arms etc....

If the needle & seat are worn... allowing fuel to keep flowing into the carburetor bowl & then into the engines inlet manifold and into the barrels and flows past the pistons into the sump....
Needle & seats are simple to replace... just take the top off the carburetor and it screws into the top of the carburetor..
when the fuel level reaches near the top, the float in the fuel hits the needle and it shuts the fuel off... normally...

a leaking carburetor float will do the same thing... allowing fuel to overflow into the inlet manifold & into the engine.......


otherwise fuel is leaking from Your fuel pump into the sump...
a fractured fuel pump diaphram will also allow fuel to leak into the sump.....


If You have an early beetle with a fuel tap... turn the lever to 45 degrees and it turns the fuel OFF....

I have never heard of this happening .........!!!!
plus fuel in the oil bath air cleaner !!!!???

Carburetor kits are available everywhere VW parts are sold..

Mick Motors... mick@mickmotors.com.au
I think the last one I bought was about $30-$40 approx...

Fuel in the engine oil isn't a good thing....

cheers
Lee -- 68AutoBug --





Lee -- 68AutoBug --

yes i am kinda aware that its not a good thing lee:P thanks for your help ill give mick motors a call and if it still happens then illsee about getting a remote fuel pump put in the front......do people do this?

Yes, I have an electric fuel pump under My fuel Tank with a switch to turn it off...
My Son has an electric fuel pump in the engine bay...
I like it under the fuel tank... with a fuel filter before the pump...
You can just connect it to the ignition fuse...

30PICT carbies are easy to dismantle etc...

I haven't heard of any of those problems before apart from fuel leaking from the fuel pump diaphram... which can fracture... at any time... If You take the top off Your carburetor, check the float to see if it has a small hole in it....
and if it has any fuel inside it.... if not its OK...
normally with fuel in the carby bowl - the float goes up - sitting on top of the fuel, it then turns off the needle & seat which stops the flow of fuel..

Lee --

you can also get a solnoid switch on the fule line that will cut the fuel supply. hook it up the coil or ignition.

As Bix said a solnoid switch is the way to go I put one on type3 after the engie filled with fuel, I put mine right where the fuel line comes out of the tunnel and wire it to the coil as I have disconneted the chokes it wont take to much power from the coil . As well as checking your carbs float and needle and seat.
Hope this helps

Marc

how do i check the fuel pump diaphram? do i just undo that bolt on the top of the fuel pump and lift the top off?

Yes, just unscrew the fuel pump screws and it will come apart, undo the 2 nuts first and take the complete pump off so no fuel will go into the engine oil...
It can be hard to see if the diaphram is leaking... if its cracked and You hold it up to the sunlight and You can see thru it.. well it has a hole in it... but the hole may be jagged so no sunlight can be seen... if its not cracked etc... it should be OK...
If You add a fuel solenoid or an electric fuel pump, don't wire it to the ignition wire.. wire it seperately thru a switch and then You can turn it off... and if someone tries to steal the car it will only go until the fuel runs out....

a good anti theft device...

cheers
Lee -- 68AutoBug --

can i take the fuel pump off the car without having to take anything else off the engine? ....... i was thinking of just putting a manual fuel tap in the fuel line as a safety precaution and anti theft.

here is a pic of the pump from my baja:

and heres the pump on my bits superbug: .......the baja pump is different.....can i just swap the 2 over?


the super bug has a 1600TP with a 34pict
and the baja has a 1600SP with a 30 pict

just swap motors if the superbug one is ok............

bump

I had the same problems with same tire and rim size on 71s bug. Took a bit of grunt to find the prob, but what was happening was that when turning tight to the left the ball joint was allowing the wheel to collapse just enough for the nuts to rub on the rim. It is hardly noticeable, with a jack under the ball joint and a pinch bar moving the arm, but enough to make it sound like the front end is falling off.. New ball joint, problem solved.. Steve

its king and link front:P

steering ball joints?

have you adjusted the limting screws? They have them on the supers.

its a 62 and it has a king and link front end on it......no balljoints

it will have ball joints in the steering arms I assume? where the tie rods attach at each end? I assume all cars would have these to allow fleexibility in the joint?

yeah ok......so how exactly do i adjust them? just clamp the joint so it cant move and screw down the nut on top?

ps: i still need to know whether i can swap fuel pumps.......

well check they are done up tight as they are normally concical. but if the nut is done up, there could be play in the actual ball joint itself. get someone to wriggle the wheel while you look underneath and see if there is any movement in them. their shouldn't be.

a different front end has just been put on by a mechanic after an accident like a week ago.....it should all be done up however there may be a little bit of play

If they are New ball joints then thats not the prob, but if they are not, it could be. It doesn't matter if the nuts are so tight that the thread stipped, if there is movement in the ball of a couple of mm this will translate to greater movement at the wheel. Try putting the jack under the nut and lifting the car from there, push and pull the wheel and look for only the slightest movement, thats all it takes. Mine dropped about 1/4 inch at the wheel to rub, and hardly even noticed movement at the ball.

it doesnt have new ball joints i know that for a fact it is a front end out of a car owned by sleeper to replace my bent front end after the accident.......my old front end was perfect :cussing

fuel pumps should be interchangeable