Hi everyone,

I'm hoping for some advice on a serious problem which I'm having at the moment.

I bought a pair of used 36mm IDF Webers in unknown condition. I then purchased a CB Performance kit with manifolds, linkages and air cleaners to put them on my stock 1600cc twin-port. I fitted them at home in the garage but couldn't get them running. In the end I put the car on a tow truck and sent it to a VW workshop. The shop has had the car for three weeks now.

Initially, I had asked just to get the car running and then tune and re-jet it. The carburettors didn't want to work, so the shop offered to do a full rebuild of both carbs for $500 and I agreed. They have now been rebuilt, had new 28mm venturies installed and the jetting changed. The mechanic is now telling me that he can't get them to run properly regardless of what jetting he puts in there and that he has reached a dead end. After 3 weeks of work, the car is now all back together, but it coughs and splutters too badly to be driven. According to the mechanic, he has put in the smallest idle jets available and wound the mixture screws in all the way to the stops and the engine is still running too rich. He has no diagnosis as to why this is happening.

What should I do? I don't really want to pay out top dollar for work which has not been completed to an acceptable standard. Obviously, if the car hasn't been tuned then I won't be paying for a tune-up. I'm reluctant to even pay for the carburettor rebuild as I feel that this may not have been done correctly. I want to take it to another workshop in Adelaide. Who can I take the car to who specialises in Webers?

Any advice or recommendations of Weber experts in South Australia would be very much appreciated.

what E tubes do you have in there at the moment??
E's need to be (IMO) F11's
My experience with IDF 36s is they need 45 idles

Supposedly he swapped a complete set of jets and e-tubes out of a pair of 40mm IDFs which were running well out of another bug and they didn't work at all.

I should point out that the car has an exhaust leak, so that might be interfering with the tuning.

LOTS of good info here

http://www.aircooled.net/gnrlsite/resource/articles/jetting.htm 

Hi

Has he set the floats up properly?

Steve

On my 1600 with 36 IDF's I'm running 32mm venturies, F57 emulsion tubes, 52 idle jets and I can't remember mains and airs, however it runs well and I used a wide band analyser to set up the jetting.
The car was almost undrivable with the 47 idles that the IDF's came with.

Just my experience FWIW

What fuel pump are you running, and what fuel pressure ???

Weber's don't like more than about 3.5 psi... too much fuel pressure and they'll run stoopid rich no matter what you do.

Even a stock VW mechanical pump can be too much for 'em.

Fuel pump is stock VW with no regulator, so that may be an issue. In general I'm doubting the ability of the mechanic to do the work, which is disappointing. I'm going to have to get my car out of there somehow and find someone else to do it. Anyone have any recommendations?

better, learn to do it yourself...it's the only reliable way..and not that hard if you are keen or have a bit of mechanical aptitude. like sides said , it will never run properly if you don't get the fuel pressure right.
i tried three mechanical fuel pumps i had and all were in excess of 5 psi so had to put in a regulator, after doing that
tha carbs behaved and responded to changes like they were supposed to.
good luck!

Yeah, have to admit I'm in the "leaern how to do it yourself" camp too.

There's a ton of good info around on Weber's, and getting the car at least drivable on them isn't beyond someone who's sensible and has half a clue. A combination of John Connelly's articles on aircooled.net and the ones on carburetorclinic.com are more than good enough to get you running.

It's really when you're chasing that extra bit that you need expert knownedge, or experience, or a wideband (or all 3).

As to how to dealing with your mechanic... yeah, sticky one... never been in that situ so can't really say. Did he give you a quote on the work before he started, or did you just say "make it run" ???

I think that he hasn't said "it needs a regulator" kinda shows he's out of his depth...

Oh and yeah - should sort the exhaust leak, but it shouldn't be making it undrivable

Thanks everyone, this seems to be more or less resolved now. I'll be taking the car back on a trailer and the mechanic involved has very kindly agreed to take off all the parts he used and give the car back for free, so he is wearing the cost of the whole disaster. Very gentlemanly of him.

OK, cool - sounds like you've come out of it reasonably then.

It's great when businesses show integrity like that hey... doesn't happen often enough I reckon.

Wow, second that - good on him for doing that.

So your not running the webers then? or going elsewhere and starting again?...good luck either way would rather see her grunting down the road!

If I do decide to go with Webers, then I am throwing these ones in the bin and buying a new or known-good pair of 40IDFs. I've had enough frustration with these carbs! Might smash them with a hammer just for good measure.

Ha ha...I have 7 of these carbies in the shed!..they will and can work but unfortunately tuning them these days is a dying art and alot of the older gurus that tuned them just arent around anymore plus theres plenty of cowboys that just love to have a go at your expense.Do some serching and speak to some people and hopefully you get a good lead cause there are people out there that can help you..I knew a guy who was a gun with tuning the 48ida on my mazda but he no longer tunes cars anymore..so cant offer you a contact..good luck either way whatever you decide.Look up Weber Performance in melbourne..they stock new idfs.its worth a look?...

Buy yourself a wideband analyser and learn to do it yourself.

Did you check for an airleak?, My old webers were near un-tuneable due to a bad airleak on the butterfly shaft on one side.

Hi

If your going to fit a whole new system, I can I suggest putting some Dellortos on, they generally run straight out of the box if bought in a VW kit. I have twin 40s on my sons bug and run almost like EFI.

Steve

I have got the car back in my shed now, with the Webers in a box on the front seat. The bug is probably going to sit there for a few weeks while I think about things. One of the biggest distractions is that I picked up a new car this morning!



Not quite the sort of car which is usually seen on these forums, but I love it!