Need some advice..

[Adam DeSantis]

Hey everyone,
I purchased my B coupe a year and a half ago and have run into a snag recently..

Let's start with a little back story.

1960 B normal coupe. Purchased from a family friend and it had not been driven for roughly 12 years. It immediately received all new brake lines and cylinders, and new petcock gaskets (due to a leak, now fixed), as per the safety inspection required for transfer of ownership. Once that was completed, I drove the car home, yes drove, to perform the rest of the work on my own as that is something I enjoy (to a certain extent lol), as many of you do too.

So I did the standard tune up items. Compression test, valve adjustment, new cap, rotor, points, spark plugs, and minor adjusting of the carbs. Car ran great. Took it to a few local shows. Lots of fun conversations were had, you know how it goes. Later on in that first summer of ownership, we were headed to another event and suddenly starting losing power. We then turned around as I expected the points were closing. Got into it right away, as I thought, points needed adjusting and we would be good to go back out again. Wrong!

After many hours of research and tinkering I decided to send the carbs away to get rebuilt as they seeped a little from day 1 of my ownership. Shipped to Walt MacKay of Ontario, Canada about (5 hours from my house). He had them turned around and back in the car in next to no time. Re-installed and we were off again! Couldn't take that smile off my face if I tried. Took it out for a cruise right away and it was running great. Went to fuel up (I use Shell 91 up here in Canada, as there is no ethanol) and headed back home to only make it about a km down the road and it quite! Called for a tow and now you're up to speed.

Since then I have changed spark plug wires, and added a new distributor - both supplied to me by Walt, and also another set of plugs.

So what is happening now - I can get it fire if I load up the carbs manually by pouring a small amount of fuel into the carbs directly. It fires and runs until that fuel is burned then stalls out. So it seems the fuel isn't getting to the carbs. But here I am reaching out to the experts here, to maybe shine some light on something I'm probably missing.

We are finally getting some nicer weather up here and its going to kill me if I can't use this beauty again this summer.

Please help!

[George Hussey]

fuel pump diaphragm failed?

[George Hussey]

maybe did not get the distributor back in properly?

[Mike Ruddy]

Shine a light into the fuel tank and see if there's any crud swirling around in there.

[Dick Weiss]

Did you rebuild the petcock--or is the petcock turned on, or turned to reserve? Look into the tank to see any debris in the strainer; Shut off the petcock and R & R it's cup.
Also, check the pump;s strainer screen and hope the pump's check valves are still working--fuel getting to the carbs(?)
I'm presuming the carbs were checked out/rebuilt, but were they balanced correctly @ 2500/2800rpm and @ idle? Timing set around 5 or 6 BTDC when warm (or the distributor rebuilt--AND the points' rubbing block is a reddish fiber and NOt a white nylon which wears quickly even w/Bosch Lube on it's cam!

If the pump's diaphram is stiff from age, it won't supply a correct amount of fuel to the carbs and the pump assembly requires preloading the diaphram to be flat to the lower body-surface before adding the top 1/2 w/the 6-screws. NOTE: Turn the engine to #1 TDC to relieve the pump's rod pressure/contact from the distributor's drive shaft

[Adam DeSantis]

Thanks for the feedback from everyone! I plan on digging into this on the weekend. Hopefully the family stuff can hold off for most of my days off haha.
I'll keep you all updated with how it goes, until then Cheers and Happy Easter

[David Jones]

Adam, as advised previously, check the pump diaphragm as they do fail with age and especially after sitting for a long period of time. Don't be too concerned about using ethanol polluted gas as it is not as much of a concern for your fuel system as old hoses and rubber components may be. I would not get too concerned about debris getting in the lines from the fuel tank either. Debris from disintegrating flex fuel lines is the bigger concern and I would replace those as a matter of course. There is one from the fuel cock to the metal line in the tunnel which in your car is easily accessed as the fuel cock is there in the car. There is one to the left of the shifter linkage under the car and there may be one behind the fan shroud on the left side and also possibly one between fuel pump and carb fuel manifold. As to filters, you have the mesh filter around the fuel pick up tubes and as long as you have sufficient fuel for the main pick up to work then it is not going to pick up any debris from the tank unless it is swirling around in the tank and small enough to pass through the mesh and into the shut off valve filter. The next filter is in the fuel pump and that is the one that catches the debris from disintegrating fuel lines. No extra filters are needed, they only add to the possible problems. Rebuild the fuel delivery system and use 87 octane gas and go back to enjoying the car.

[Doug McDonnell]

As David said replace all rubber fuel lines with modern alcohol safe fuel lines even if that is not your problem. You can get original Colhine brand from Stoddard but I just use NAPA brand.

[Bruce Smith]

Adam - I'd also suspect the fuel pump. I wrote a couple of recent articles on fuel pump rebuilding in the magazine, Volume 39 Nos. 2 and 6. You can find them in the pull-down menu under Magazine. If you rebuild it, make sure the new diaphragm is preloaded property.

[Dan Epperly]

If you disconnect the fuel line coming out of the pump and have someone turn the car over does fuel shoot out of the line? If not, disconnect the input line, does fuel go into the pump? If yes, then your pump is shot or there is some gunk clogging the input side.

[Adam DeSantis]

Sorry for bringing this post back to life, but I finally had some time to dig into the old fuel pump last week.
A little back story.. I purchased a rebuilt pump on a whim, as I am committed to a local show this upcoming weekend.
So, that being said, new pump installed! Wanted to dig into the old pump as I have the Stoddard rebuild kit on my workbench and look what I came across... Something looks wrong with that Pivot Arm!
Looks like I need to order more parts! Thanks for the guidance everyone, and now I can enjoy 'Penny' again!

[Tim Berardelli]

Adam,

Most after market VW 25/36 hp fuel pump rebuild kits come with a replacement for the broken lever in your picture. Google 111 198 551.

[Adam DeSantis]

Thanks Tim!
I will definitely do that!

[Harlan Halsey]

A few years ago a friend was having fuel starvation problems at the track. Turned out that there was an intermittant fuel line blockage caused by crud in the tank. Blowing back through the fuel line fixed it temporarily, until a thorough cleaning was done.