About to give up on my beater

[Turin39789]

I picked this up for a few hundred dollars this winter. Started to get bad mpg (~19) and did a tune up(cap/wires and plugs, fuel and air filter) with no effect, but my old vw's battery isn't charging, gets about the same mpg and doesn't have heat so I stuck it out.

When the weather warmed up, the mpg seemed to get better. I get about 34 highway, 26/28 city. Still not where it should be but better, however the car has started to flood regularly. I will drive to work, car will need a little gas pedal to start in the morning, do a 15 minute drive half city/half highway and park at work. Come out 8.5 hours later and it will start but will stall as I am backing out of the spot(slight downard slope).

I've been opening the hood, smelling the gas, opening up the intake and taking out the air filter and she starts. I rev her a few times, put the filter back in and I'm off.

Today she's not wanting to get going again even after the filter trick, although the first time I did it I just opened it up and didn't completely dissasemble so it fell back together when I was starting it up.

Anybody want to point me at something to hookup and test or should I just phear the carb and try to pass it off and buy a new alternator and regulator for my beetle?

 

[BUTCH1]

Might be time for a carb rebuild, kinda tricky the first time out especially one of your
vintage (electronic feedback)...

 

[Turin39789]

Originally posted by: BUTCH1
Might be time for a carb rebuild, kinda tricky the first time out especially one of your
vintage (electronic feedback)...

I've done an older easier carb off my 72 beetle, but the feedback one just looks ugly and a pain. I'm trying to weigh my chances of screwing it up vs selling it as is.

Oh yea, and the car diesels and idles high, been thinking about the carb for awhile.

 

[nakedfrog]

Go with the Beetle. And now you've got plenty of time to fix the heat!

 

[Turin39789]

Originally posted by: nakedfrog
Go with the Beetle. And now you've got plenty of time to fix the heat!

I know! but it only gets about 20mpg. I could dump the new car money into a fresh single port 1600 engine that would get better mpg.

Craigslist is evil though, I'm looking for a modern reliable car and people are selling 1976 Audi 100ls's for $1500. Never seen the car before but it looks like fun.

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: Turin39789

Originally posted by: nakedfrog
Go with the Beetle. And now you've got plenty of time to fix the heat!

I know! but it only gets about 20mpg. I could dump the new car money into a fresh single port 1600 engine that would get better mpg.

Craigslist is evil though, I'm looking for a modern reliable car and people are selling 1976 Audi 100ls's for $1500. Never seen the car before but it looks like fun.

This might be worth a shot

 

[thedarkwolf]

ahh just give the carb a try. How much worse can you really make it? The car isn't worth crap anyway as it is.

 

[Turin39789]

Originally posted by: thedarkwolf
ahh just give the carb a try. How much worse can you really make it? The car isn't worth crap anyway as it is.

I had a few bites on craigslist for $700 a month or two ago when I was thinking about dumping it, that was before the mpg had improved but also before the flooding.

 

[Turin39789]

Originally posted by: nakedfrog

Originally posted by: Turin39789

Originally posted by: nakedfrog
Go with the Beetle. And now you've got plenty of time to fix the heat!

I know! but it only gets about 20mpg. I could dump the new car money into a fresh single port 1600 engine that would get better mpg.

Craigslist is evil though, I'm looking for a modern reliable car and people are selling 1976 Audi 100ls's for $1500. Never seen the car before but it looks like fun.

This might be worth a shot

read that before, just dipped back into thesamba and there is some talk of high mpg square engines but no one seems to be building them commercially that I saw from the classifieds. Raby has his super mpg project but it's still a project and he has 5k+ in the engine.

The real issue with the beetle is that the po's paint is peeling some, one fender got dinged by a porsche cayenne pretty good(have replacement) and someone dented the hood in a parking lot(bastard). So I really want to have it stripped down and painted, but again, time and money are both at a premium and it's hard to find anyone around who does resto body work around here(ky). I can get a nice new longblock from boston bob for about a grand, or I could check with the nearby VW guy and see what he could do for me(he's a semi-friend).

I could dump money into the beetle, or pick up a 2000-01 kia for 1800-2800. There's also a mid 90's mazda mx-3 around.

The real issue is that I'm worried that my two tone rust bucket is hurting my image at work. I'm about to ask for a raise/promotion and I don't know that my boss's boss stopping to offer to help me after work as I stand in the parking lot with the hood up on my $300 car inspires confidence.

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: Turin39789
read that before, just dipped back into thesamba and there is some talk of high mpg square engines but no one seems to be building them commercially that I saw from the classifieds. Raby has his super mpg project but it's still a project and he has 5k+ in the engine.

The real issue with the beetle is that the po's paint is peeling some, one fender got dinged by a porsche cayenne pretty good(have replacement) and someone dented the hood in a parking lot(bastard). So I really want to have it stripped down and painted, but again, time and money are both at a premium and it's hard to find anyone around who does resto body work around here(ky). I can get a nice new longblock from boston bob for about a grand, or I could check with the nearby VW guy and see what he could do for me(he's a semi-friend).

I'm looking at possibly fabbing some custom fiberglass fenders for mine. I'm toying with the idea of picking up a $100-150 block that needs rebuilt and going the square route. I was only doing 15-17mpg when I was commuting in it, but it was also a 5 mile drive each way.

 

[thedarkwolf]

Originally posted by: Turin39789

Originally posted by: nakedfrog

Originally posted by: Turin39789

Originally posted by: nakedfrog
Go with the Beetle. And now you've got plenty of time to fix the heat!

I know! but it only gets about 20mpg. I could dump the new car money into a fresh single port 1600 engine that would get better mpg.

Craigslist is evil though, I'm looking for a modern reliable car and people are selling 1976 Audi 100ls's for $1500. Never seen the car before but it looks like fun.

This might be worth a shot

read that before, just dipped back into thesamba and there is some talk of high mpg square engines but no one seems to be building them commercially that I saw from the classifieds. Raby has his super mpg project but it's still a project and he has 5k+ in the engine.

The real issue with the beetle is that the po's paint is peeling some, one fender got dinged by a porsche cayenne pretty good(have replacement) and someone dented the hood in a parking lot(bastard). So I really want to have it stripped down and painted, but again, time and money are both at a premium and it's hard to find anyone around who does resto body work around here(ky). I can get a nice new longblock from boston bob for about a grand, or I could check with the nearby VW guy and see what he could do for me(he's a semi-friend).

I could dump money into the beetle, or pick up a 2000-01 kia for 1800-2800. There's also a mid 90's mazda mx-3 around.

The real issue is that I'm worried that my two tone rust bucket is hurting my image at work. I'm about to ask for a raise/promotion and I don't know that my boss's boss stopping to offer to help me after work as I stand in the parking lot with the hood up on my $300 car inspires confidence.

Just shows how much you need that raise

 

[redgtxdi]

So, is the possibility of buying a 'new' car not there??

Just thinkin' maybe a $10K Hyundai/Kia might be a good investment??