The Cal-look Lounge

Background info-----

So last thursday, I was going to meet up with a guy about forty minutes from me to sell him some rims. My daily driver is a 1600 DP '68 beetle. As I was driving I noticed about 8 miles from my destination that I was losing power. I would be going up a hill and it would struggle and slug up the hill. It is by no means a fast or super powerful motor but it never bogs down when cruising down the highway. I continued on because I figured I'd check it out when I got to the destination and then about 3 miles later the Generator light came on when I had the accelerator mashed to the floor. I hopped out the car (engine still running) and the fan belt was still there I wiggled the light a little bit hopped in and the light went away. I then continued on and about 1.5 miles from the meeting point the car gave out. No more power left and the shifter gave out and became disconnected and I coasted to a stop. When the guy I was meeting with and I came back to the car and tried to start it I had no luck.......

What I've tried and check.......

The car is home now and I found the shift rod screw came out underneath the inspection plate and so now that is connected and functioning. My first thought was....It's not getting gas.... well I disconnected the fuel line from the carb (34pict3) and cranked it over. Gas sprays out fine and the pump checks out clear. I connect the fuel line back up and look for gas flowing into carb throat...it does....ok if it's getting fuel that must mean it's not getting spark.
I pull the center plug coming from the coil off and hold it to the carb body while the engine is cranking over. It arcs and so therefore I have spark... I check the rotor and cap and both appear to be fine. No cracks and nothing out of the ordinary. I then pull the number 3 plug to see what it looks like. DRY. Now I know there should be lots of gas in there and the plugs should be wet because I poured it both down the throat of the carb and I was pumping gas but the plugs were DRY!! ok so does that mean there's no vacuum? well I had my friend put his palm over the carb to feel the vacuum and sure enough there's vacuum. how about valves?
Well I checked the valves because I thought because it was overheating the valves got tight...(is that crazy to think?) Well the valves were more loose than tight. They were all way looser than when I adjusted them last fall. Well I adjusted them to .006 and then tried starting again. Nothing.

so now I'm at my wit's end and I've come begging for help.


Conclusions.....
There's fuel and it's going down the carb.
There's Spark to all four plugs
I put in new points (gapped to .016) and rotor.
The timing hasn't changed and the dizzy hasn't moved
I adjusted the valves to .006
There seems to be vacuum atop the carb.
I've checked the plugs and they look a nice brown but they're completely dry when they shouldn't be.
I've sprayed Starting fluid down the carb and it still doesn't start.
I've sprayed starting fluid in the number 1 plug and it doesn't start.
I've replaced the plug wires and it doesn't start.
I haven't checked compression because none of the FLAPS around here have a kit in stock but it feels low. (I used the scientific approach of hand turning the pulley and feeling for the two tight spots per rev. It seems to easy to get over that hump)


p.s. I plan on getting a compression gauge asap by the way

Is it a newer engine? Cam may have gone away.

First of all to avoid all misunderstandings: the shift rod has nothing to do with the engine stalling  ;D

Have you checked your battery, could be either a bad battery or rather something wrong with generator/regulator. No electricity spells bad performance all the way to the brink of dying on you.

Worth checking, and as it is not in your list perhaps overlooked?

Cheers,
Tim

Check your timing anyway, static time to TDC, a place to start.

Ted

is the Coil getting hot when you turn the Key On? the Coil can also be cracked and the Spark is being grounded out at the coil could also be a Bad Condenser on the Dist. to make sure it is not anything else on the car run a wire outside the car from the Pos+ Battery to the Pos+ on the coil unplug the wire on the coil coming off the loom then try starting it that way it tells you it is something on the motor itself and not any other electrical problems

A friend of mine built his engine in my shop on his days off from work, coverying inbetween working on it, built a draw thru efi turbo setup,ms computer, the whole thing, we go to start it on the run stand and just get pop pop, check everything, timing at 24deg.(dist locked) compression everything, we determine that the header is holding the turbo sort of upsidedown and fuel is standing in the compressor housing. So he does a quick refab on the header to reposition the turbo, same thing happens, I go to run a compression test, and instantly the motor sounds like no compression (had compression before), and now the valves are loose! I look into the spark plug hole and see some thing, I point and go whats that? He looks, his hand hits his forehead and turns around, he had left little blue paper towels in the intake ports! When we put the intakes on(weeks earlier) then made up the rest of the plumbing the paper towels were left there to keep krap out of the motor, when the towels managed to get part way past the valves it hung them open. After removing all the paper towel material the motor fired right up.
    Is it possible something got in your intake track?  ( highly doughtfull )

Damn thread killer ???