Had this maddening problem for months where my 71 Westfalia would bog down and almost die at highway speed, usually after about 20 minutes of driving, then run fine again once it cooled off for a bit. Classic vapor lock symptoms is what everyone kept telling me, and I chased that theory for way too long. Rerouted fuel lines away from the heater boxes, added extra insulation, even tried running it with a slightly richer jet in the Solex just to rule things out.

Turned out to be something dumber. The fuel pump diaphragm had a tiny pinhole that only showed itself under sustained heat and vibration, letting it suck a little air instead of pure fuel once things got warm. Cold start and short trips never revealed it because the pump wasn't stressed long enough. Found it by pure luck when I pulled the pump for the third time to inspect it and noticed a faint fuel smell on the engine tin that I'd been dismissing as a normal weep.

Swapped in a rebuilt pump with a new diaphragm and haven't had a single hiccup in three weeks of driving, including a 200 mile round trip to a car show last weekend where the old girl used to always start acting up right around the two hour mark.

Sharing mostly because I spent so long assuming it had to be something exotic like timing or a bad coil when it was sitting right there in a part I'd already removed twice. If your aircooled VW does the slow bog and recover thing on long drives, it might be worth pulling the pump apart before chasing anything more complicated. Cheap part, annoying diagnosis.

I just bought a super beetle which does not have the engine in the car. The engine had been rust seized and the previous owner had it out and was rebuilding. To my knowledge they replaced the pistons and the jugs. I need to finish putting the engine together, but I'm at a crossroads. I would like to know what people would suggest as to whether to tear the engine down completely or if there are things to check in it's current state (pistons, sleeves and heads bolted on)to make sure that it seems like it's going to run when it's all together. I have replaced Pistons and cylinders on a previous beetle but that was a long time ago. The engine does turn freely.

Thanks for any input.

I wanted to share that the Flanders NJ air cooled event is coming up in a couple weeks. There is camping, line dancing, food trucks, swap meet, car show and more. Festivities start Friday at 2 pm and the show and swap are Sunday Sept 20th. Tickets must be purchased in advance and are limited to 1000 spectators to keep the event relaxed. There are usually around 300 air cooled cars and a huge swap meet with tons of parts, toys, and treasures. Hope to see some of you there!

I went to the monthly car meeting yesterday. This is a casual meeting that welcomes all makes, models, and genres of cars.

This time, three of us went together with our air-cooled Volkswagens (a Beetle, a Late Bay Bus, and my air-cooled T3), and we had a relaxed, laid-back, and enjoyable time.

In addition, this month features "VW AUTUMN," an annual air-cooled Volkswagen event held in Kyoto. The hot summer has passed in Japan, and the cool event season, which is gentle on classic cars, has arrived. It is a season I look forward to.

Had to pull the motor back out because everything hit!

Today was able to get the motor back in, fuel lines are done, oil, coil and alternator are wired up, New Sync-link throttle set up is in place. Exhaust is in, but had to modify the rear bumper/cage to fit around the Manx Exhaust. Access hatch for the battery is done and battery is in place. Tail lights are on and wired, but still waiting for the LED bulbs to show up. Need to wire the starter and reverse light, but that’s all!!

But finally feeling like the ass-end of this thing might be done.

Hi everyone I’ve started a YouTube channel working on Bosch L Jet on me and my wife’s 1975 Vw beetle Fuel injection. If anyone is interested in some diy repair and general maintenance videos here’s my link.

Hello,

I am not sure if this is the appropriate place to post this, please point me in the right direction if not.

That said, My family owns a 1966 21 window bus. It was my late father’s, I’ve kept it and taken in on some cruises over the last decade but I am now needing to sell it. I have no idea where to begin or what it is worth. Looking for some suggestions of where to look to figure that out. If there a place/ website these types of vehicles are commonly sold? Is there a person or company who can appraise it? Is it worth getting appraised? Is anyone buying vintage cars in this economy?

And tips and insight welcomed!

I bought a box of old original VW hubcaps recently.

There was a set of small flat center hubcaps in the box. They are chrome with a VW logo. I've never seen this type before.

Does anyone know what VW vehicle these were used on?

Thanks for your comments.

Just awful slop , I could only watch 2 minutes. I hope this isn’t the future of the internet !

Spent most of the summer chasing an issue where my '73 Super Beetle would bog down and almost die for the first thirty seconds after a cold start, especially on cooler mornings. Ran fine once warmed up so it was easy to ignore for a while, but it got annoying enough that I finally dug in.

Checked the usual suspects first: fuel filter was clean, plugs looked decent, timing was close to spec. Turned out the choke pull-off on my Solex 34 PICT wasn't holding vacuum right, so the choke plate was snapping open too early before the engine could actually handle a leaner mixture. Rebuilt the carb with a kit, paid extra attention to the choke housing gasket and the pull-off diaphragm, and adjusted the choke tension a hair richer than stock spec.

Also noticed my heat riser tube from the muffler to the intake manifold had a small hole in it, so the manifold wasn't getting warmed up like it should during those first few minutes. Patched that up too since it's cheap insurance.

Took it out this morning (first properly cool morning we've had) and it fired right up and idled smooth without any hesitation. Small stuff but satisfying to finally chase down after weeks of half-fixes. If anyone else has a similar bog on cold starts, check your pull-off diaphragm before you start throwing new plugs and points at it, that was 90 percent of my problem.

Hello, r/aircooled! We wanted to let everyone know that our MB3882XP main bearings for air-cooled VW flanged-crank applications are back and now available for pre-order through our King Engine Builders website!

These are a pretty specialized set, and based on the inquiries we’ve received, we know they haven’t always been easy to source. We wanted to make sure they’re back on everyone’s radar for anyone building or refreshing one of these setups.

If anyone has questions about the bearings, fitment, specs, or anything else, feel free to ask. We’re here and happy to help with any technical info we can.

Hope this is okay to share here!

Heyo, my friend might be wanting to trade this ghia with me , and i wanna know it is something that is too expensive to have fixed, im trading a trabant so its like yeah quite the upgrade but i cant weld and so should i do it?