New to the beetle needing some help!

[that_crazy_guy]

Hello everyone! I have begun to start aiding the restore of a '66 beetle. Right now we are working on the engine and we are stuck. I have replaced the battery, generator, spark plugs, and wires so far. The thing now starts up and runs okay at idle. Give it any gas, it sputters for a sec then starts revving up. All seems well right? Wrong! It makes lots of noise but has NO power. I can barely get it started on a flat surface. It's also backfiring a bit and popping and yeah. Once it goes back to idle, all is well it purrs like a new born kitten. I have toyed around with the mixture screw however no changes in the way it runs. Where should I turn? Do you guys think Ineed to get a rebuild kit and tear the carb apart? The plugs are gapped correctly. I believe I have the distributor hooked up correctly, I followed the diagram on this site.

I actually had the car running pretty well for a bit. It was wierd. It ran all really underpowered, then all of the sudden it felt like it tripled in HP. Now it runs really poor again like it did before. So now I am stuck! Any help would rock.

P.S. this is a terrific site I can't believe how many people really enjoy working on the old beetles, especially these rare '66 beauties. Cheers to all of you out there!

[jmartini]

Hi TCG! I've had issues like this before and it ended up being either the carb, or the vacuum advance on the distributor (it could even be a leaking vacuum line). It sounds lie the vacuum advance to me because when you start to accelerate the car sputters and back fires. We have a couple members that are really good mechanically so hang in there and you will get some more advice.

[that_crazy_guy]

a vacuum issue might explain why it had that amazing burst of energy out of no where. Where is the line for the advance located? Are there any other lines vacuum wise on these cars?

Thanks a bunch!

[bill hauck]

You might also want to check the firing order of the spark plugs. I had this problem and had the same deal as you did. would idle ( one cylinder firing) but no power and backfiring when accelerated.

you might have a couple of the wires switched. hard to believe it could ilde so smooth with only one cylinder firing.

[that_crazy_guy]

I have checked it a few times the wiring. I followed the diagram on your website here. The way I understand the engine, looking from the back to the front, cylinder 1 is right side closest to front of the car, cylinder 2 left side closest to front, cylinder 3 is left close to back, and 4 is right side back correct? The firing order being 1-4-3-2. The distributor rotates clockwise and I have the wires the order I stated going clockwise. Does this seem correct?

Thanks guys!

[fatalifeaten]

I have checked it a few times the wiring. I followed the diagram on your website here. The way I understand the engine, looking from the back to the front, cylinder 1 is right side closest to front of the car, cylinder 2 left side closest to front, cylinder 3 is left close to back, and 4 is right side back correct? The firing order being 1-4-3-2. The distributor rotates clockwise and I have the wires the order I stated going clockwise. Does this seem correct?

Thanks guys!

Gah! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Looking at the motor, , FRONT is to the front of the car.

Right (passenger) side. 1 and 2. 1 is to the FRONT , 2 is rear.

Left Side (driver) FRONT is 3, rear is 4. Firing order is indeed 1-4-3-2
(cheesy diagram. ^ indicates car front)

3__^__1
4_____2

You've got 2 and 4 swapped.

They should be wired in the distributor with number 1 at the timing mark, and then counterclockwise from there 2, 3, 4. If your distributor's in correctly, the notch for number 1 will be at around 5 O'Clock when you look at it with the decklid open.
So kind of like this:

3---2
**C**
4---1

The "C" indicates the coil wire.

Your engine tins also have numbers marked on them which will tell you which cylinder is which. You may have to move the rubber seal in the engine bay to see them,

Swap those wires. see how it does after that. You may still have some sort of vacuum issue, but this may fix the problem.

[that_crazy_guy]

Wow okay lol I guess I Must have misread the diagram. I bet that's our winning ticket I will have to see when I get home in a couple hours. Thanks for the info man I feel a little dumb now hah. I'll let you guys know what happens in a couple hours here.

Thanks

[bill hauck]

don't feel too bad. I've had my '73 for 35 years and still screwed up the firing order on my '66. I think the VW was God's way of keeping us humble. I have had issues on my '73 that even pro VW mechanics have never heard of.

[that_crazy_guy]

Haha well quite the amateur mechanic is what I am. But, i'll be damned, but that was my problem. After switching up those wires the little demon fired right up and feels like it gained almost all of those 50 horseys back ha-ha. Thanks guys for the tips I printed this thread off so I have reference forever lol.

Thanks so much! I'll be back with more i'm sure.