Hey

wondering if anyone can give me a heads up.
my dad went out in the 1970 beetle tonight and it juddered the whole way? it has been doing it early in the morning and i have just been putting it down to the cold letting it run for a couple of minutes and its fine. second gear is being difficult sort of crunching down and there is an oil leak are they connected?

can someone help me out with some advice and prices to fix it?

Thanks

Emma

I'm pretty sure there is no syncro on first gear so the chrunching may need i softer apporach. Is it all fixed when it is warm? Heat risers perhaps... does it happen al the time?

not all the time no. it was fine when i drove it earlier today then my dad went to pick my brother up and it wouldnt stop juddering, it usually stops after a little while

:S

1st gear has a synchro. Second gear crunching down is not uncommon for a 40 year old box. Be a bit delicate, and it will be fine. I pre rev our Beetle when shifting down to give the sychro a help.

Juddering may be a fuel tune or ignition problem. A clean of the jets in the carby, and a new set of plugs and points, and most problems are eliminated.

most likely the manifold icing up,and sometimes the gear crashing can be just a little adjustment of the gearstick,was told this when it happened to my 61 beetle

Yeah, preheat pipe is blocked. It gets clogged up with carbon and crap from your exhaust. Mine is blocked at the moment and the bug carries on in the mornings, so I just cruise around in third for a few blocks and then its all good.

I heard that an old school quick fix was to wrap the carb manifold, just underneath the carb, tightly in a gauze or thick cloth as ice found it harder to form on material.

I'd be a bit concerned about it trapping fuel and potentially turning into a molotov cocktail.

Hi Emma,

The preheater pipe is required in colder weather where it may not be needed in the HOT summer..
it heats the manifold up where the very cold petrol is sprayed and stops the carburetor from icing up...
and it can stop Your engine...

it did mine 3 years ago, when travelling down the putty road to sydney and the temperature dropped to zero degrees...

I taped up all mY air vents on the engine cover and below the rear window.... to stop the freezing up and keep the engine heat in the engine bay...

I did use an electric blanket heater around the manifold until I replaced the manifold and hear risers.. it came from the US..

LEE

They're needed even in hot weather.
When you turn a liquid into a vapour it's going to refrigerate that's just science.
It's just not as pronounced when it's hotter.

I had an electric heater on my old single Weber carb which is now on dads engine and even in summer if I turned it off I could notice around town it wasn't as happy pulling from low revs

THe most noticeable difference without them though it to fuel economy.

When Mine freezed up going to Sydney Joel
I used twice as much petrol as I should have... YIKES...
My heat riser had rusted out on the front side, [front of car] where I couldn;t see it.... lol

cheers

LEE

ok thanks guys. any suggestions for a quick fix as pennies are low and was relying on tax money to do a big service and to fix her up. or anyone keen to give me and my dad a hand? we are on the north side of brisbane and dad has two beetles for spare parts if need be?

thanks

p.s. im stuck without a car until this is fixed