Hi Guys.
Why would the plugs on cylinder 1 & 2 be black and the others are not as bad. ? we have new coil new dizzy new plugs new leads,new carb.What could it be.?Here is a pic.

The obvious answer would be if you had twin carbs and one of them was set too rich, but I assume that you don't have twin carbs. Failing that are there any manifold leaks at the rubber boots or mounting faces? Anything that could alter the fuel mixture from one side to the other?

i agree - lean on one side and carb richened up tp try and compensate

Either rubber boots or actual manifold gasket

Oh ok .Um im running only one carb,so that rules out one thing.Im not entirely sure what the rubber boot is? or mounting faces?
is that the bit of rubber under the actual manifold at the heads? would more air,lessen the ammount of fuel burnt or something like that,causing
the blackness on the spark plug.
Thanks So Much.

The rubber boots are the parts that connect the manifold centre to the ends on a twin-port factory manifold, like this:



If you have one of these manifolds, check the rubber parts aren't cracked or leaking. If you have a single-port manifold then it won't have any manifold boots, so all you need to check is that there are no holes/cracks in the actual manifold, and that there are no leaks at the gaskets where it joins to the heads.

As Bizarre said, the reason it would cause blackness on one side would involve someone tuning the carb to be too rich, to try and compensate for the air leaks. The air leaks lean out the side with the leak, making that one burn fine, but the side without a leak will burn too rich and blacken the plugs.

Hi

Is it a single port? Beside that you could have the preheat burning through the manifold, seen it happen before.

Steve

like i said it is a single port.and there is no leaks in the actual manifold.there could be a possibility that there might be a leak at the heads,but not sure.
Anything else that could be causing it?

not really - pretty hard to get unequal mixture to either side from a single carb

Get it idling then spray liberal amounts of WD40 the manifold head join and see if idle changes

Ok,so sprayed the manifold with wd40 got no response maybe just a little one on top of the manifold.Will have to remove the manifold.not that i want to.
we noticed also that the right hand side where the plugs were black,the manifold was really hot.on the elbow.Compared to the other side you could cook an egg on there.Why would it be sooo hot.?

i also forgot to mention the reason,we had the plugs out is becuase it has a flat spot when you give it some power.
so we are trying to determine the cause of that.

Check your preheat pipe is not blocked causing manifold to hot on one side

b...b..bump

Only thing i could suggest now is swapping manifolds

possibly a small crack somewhere in the manifold???

Have you done a compression check to make sure the head gaskets are bugger or leaking? One of my plugs were doing (still are) doing the same, but thats cause one of my valves are gone.

vws dont have any form of headgaskets

i'd first try a new head to manifold gasket but failing that best be would be try another manifold

like steve said you could have a hole blown into it internally from the preheat pipe

taking the manifold off tonight to check for cracks and gasket leak.there is nothing else really.i appreciate all your help.
Will keep you posted.

OKAY...SO A LITTLE HELP!!!.
Is there an easy way to take the manifold out without taking the fan housing off.i can lift it up but then it hits the housing.
A spark plug lead broke the other day too. this car just does not want to run.
please help

Not really
The heat risers get in the way

If you have bolts in stead of studs on the alternator base then it may be possible

In car can be done, but a real pita. Deck lid and hinge brackets off, fan and alternator out, fan housing off, manifold off......

OMGnot happy jan.matberry do you have a guide to that technique like step by step.
i really do not want the engine out.

That was step by step.

Give me a call, I'll talk you through it.

Personally I would just take the engine out, it's a lot easier. With a decent floor jack, a really big pair of jackstands and the help of someone who's done it before, you can easily have a Bug engine out of the car in 15 minutes. It saves a lot of contortionist wrangling in the engine bay. If you've had a lot of practice, you can do it much faster!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKF6dcKjLJo 

yeh i know mate,but just really dont have the gear for an engine removal.One day i hope to be that good tho.lol
We got it all out,took the deck lid off,made it alot easier.umm i have new gaskets for the manifold,to be put on.I also have checked the manifold and
from all the testing we could not find any leaks in the manifold it self.(surprisingly)

just wondering if its not the manifold,could it be the valves?
causing a flat spot.?