I never get rid of any tools ever!

Dave`s comment is one to really take in..... As an example... I had built up many spanners, taps, dies, tapered reamers, adjustable reamers of all sizes variations. All imperial. All British firm manufacture. Over time, after retirement, and I am staggered to realise that I will have been retired 6yrs at the end of Feb, I thought that it would be wise to pass all on that I wouldn`t be needing regularly any more. Did the same with a lot of other gear that I had built up. Passed the imperial tools on to local guys I knew through classic car interests over the decades.

Is it hoarding or is it prudence to have more tools than the local garage? ... Don`t know but over 53 years I must have spent an awful lot of money on tools and cars.     Enjoyed every minute tho` and I have an annual xmas delivery from family of elastoplasts and I kid you not here 

Luckily I never went down the Snap On route as working on construction plant I've lost so many tools trampled in the mud, Britool and Gordon stuff for me generally. Plus I've got spanners bent, ground, etc to do fiddly jobs on long obsolete machines...if they could only talk though!

  I always seem to think of something after having posted things. It may be age and mental decline that made me forget of an important aspect of carb trouble..

Modern fuel is rubbish, we all know that, but keep in mind the word rubbish. Standard mechanical pumps are quite resilient and can pass particles thro`. Modern fuel hose abrades when forced onto barbs and pipe style unions. Particles come away and fuel flow can push them to the needle valve of carb. It only takes a tiny piece of grit etc to prevent the needle vale from closing and flood carb. (overfuelling).

Back in the mists of time Solex carbs on Beetles had an elongated cone shaped filter that was made of "sintered" metal. Same as in the fuel tank outlet. Sintered metal is said to be porous. It was/is very distinctive being a dark coppery colour most often back then.
This filter was a slide fit into the carburettor inlet, The brass pipe at the top of the float chamber section. This was brought back to my memory about 5 years ago when I purchased a chinese 34pict three which was a mere 60 quid new. Much to my surprise this carb had a white resin based filter which was the same shape and overall size as a VW original. You can imagine these things are tiny. The carb wouldn`t operate correctly at first try. Fuel chamber emptied after being filled manually from the carb top. Removed the tiny filter and the carb worked perfectly.

Luckily I never went down the Snap On route as working on construction plant I've lost so many tools trampled in the mud, Britool and Gordon stuff for me generally. Plus I've got spanners bent, ground, etc to do fiddly jobs on long obsolete machines...if they could only talk though!

Yep Britool a norm for the UK among others... I never bought anything from "snap - on". Not knocking their quality but they were top end expensive.
I have a britool ring spanner I bought in 1970. It has cranked ends. Heated this up and bent it slightly so that I could get above the heat exchanger to top exhaust nut. Still have this and it is has probably been my "most used" spanner. Never rusted just chrome flaking away now.

Some of the best tools I've got were "inherited" when I got made redundant many years ago. Most useful, it quite a long list, a forked screwdriver ground sharp to get stuck washers up, some cranked screwdrivers, small socket set 1/4" drive imperial and metric, even some bst (?) sizes, and last but not least a 1970 vintage fold up sack barrow

Hopefully things have settled and I can move on with my buggy.....   Everything disconnected and engine ready to be pulled. I know I can no longer remove the engine on my own, nor lift it, as in the past. Sad to realise I am going to be using a hydraulic lifter to remove / refit the engine  but the clock cannot be turned back.

Have to give praise once again to Mike Haussmann for his design and build skills. The exhaust system he built for me comes away in it`s  near entirety with the removal of a few nuts and bo

It continues to rain daily so the engine is going to have to go in the shed to work on. (Why I never got round to building a dedicated engine "stand" decades ago I don`t know).

It`s a swing axle buggy so having been jacked up either side for access it isn`t sitting nice and level front to back but a few bricks will sort that out. As I had to unclip all the wiring to the rear lights, cage and engine ancillaries that had been secured in a manner to satisfy iva I noticed that I may have an issue as mentioned by Doon with regard to the CB Performance twin carb linkage arms. The Manx body, at the lower rear, is very close to the engine cooling shroud. At worst the body will need a small mod either side so it`s not a serious issue, (or so I hope  )

(Dave if you see this post ... server for image posting is down).

(Dave if you see this post ... server for image posting is down)

Seems to be working for me?   

Weird Dave.... Tried twice with the same error message indicating "postimage.org server issue" or similar. Used imgur . Thanks for looking anyway. 

Weird Dave.... Tried twice with the same error message indicating "postimage.org server issue" or similar. Used imgur . Thanks for looking anyway. 

I think parts of the internet were glitchy yesterday.  There were sites I couldn't get to and when I rang the companies they were fine their end.

I have no idea why time passes as quickly as it does when you are retired. March is here.

Engine is out. Fan shroud changed. Inlet manifolds fitted and what a carry on. These manifolds, (CB Performance), are reasonably well made and as the instructions state a "bit of tweaking of tinware may be needed". Needed more than a bit but then that`s the buggy world I guess...

This is the first time I have seen the weber 34ict up close and I can see why some folks may have had over fueling issues.
It is a very small carburretor and very basic. Just as the old school ones were way back in the mist of my youth. 
The float chamber is small with the float taking up lots of the room. So... correct fuel pressure is the name of the game. School boy physics come to mind here.

A pump does not create "pressure"... It creates "flow" Pressure is a term used to indicate "resistance" to flow. psi/bar.pascals and so on. (Pascals are very widely used when dealing with flow dynamics relating to auto actuated valve systems).

You so often come across mention of changing of carb jets to suit the engine etc but it is rare to here folk nowadays mention the very first port of call and that is the "emulsion tube". Sometimes the emulsion tube is hidden under what is termed an "air jet" and sometimes it is on it`s own. The air jet, where fitted, may be no more than a pilot hole in a brass fitting to allow air to pass thro`, If you don`t have the correct size emulsion tube in place then any other jet change is compromised. They all work hand in hand to give an overall result across the rev range.
It would appear that the weber 34ict is supplied with an F6 emulsion tube,,, a recent change from a F7/8....  When I am up and running again I will be able to comment on this and other jet sizes.

Three points to set on each carb before fitting to manifolds....  One... set throttle flap to a small opening using a 8 thou feeler gauge. If you don`t have a feeler gauge look up the throat and you will see 3 tiny drillings. Make sure the lowest of the three is slightly uncovered. (To adjust this setting use the "idle screw")

Second point, and this is critical..... measure the float gap. See photo... With carb top section vertical, and the gasket in place, measure the gap between float body and the gasket surface. This should be between 6 to 6,5mm....  If you need to adjust bend the tang that contacts the needle valve just a tad.

3rd point..... screw in the "mixture screw" until it gently bottoms and unscrew 2 turns

These 3 adjustments should allow the engine to start and idle sufficiently well to allow fine tuning when the engine is fully warm. Expect the engine to run rich at this point.

(tuning twin carbs takes a lot of patience.... the more time & effort you put into this the better the final outcome will be,,,,, I will go further into this but be warned.. it is a long winded fart on  )

The 34 ICT carb came off the 2000 cc Bedford CF engine where it was a single carb hence the no left hand version for 3 & 4 on the VW, hopefully they now change the Bedford F78 tube to F6 or 7 before selling them.

Hi snoopy..... I remember the Bedford CF well. There were short and long wheel base versions used by the contracting company I worked for. Think this was in the mid 70`s. Shortly afterwards they moved to Ford Transits. I had no idea that the 34 ICT originated from these vehicles. You are correct the two carbs I received are "same handed".  They are supplied with F6 tubes by Eurocarb. (Eurocarb will fit any jetting variations you ask for when you order). Where the Bedford CF carbs fitted with choke flaps?   The Weber 34 kits supplied for twin ports appear not to be available with chokes yet they are advertised as available with auto chokes for the single port engines

As I look back over the decades I realise that I have had very little need to become involved with electric fuel pumps except for those submerged as 1st stage units in diesel vehicle fuel tanks so on a learning curve as I move from my buggies mechanical pump to a Facet electro mechanical one. At the moment I am retaining  the standard 6mm (1/4") fuel line. I won`t know until I am up and running on the road again if this size line will suffice in fuel supply but it should do.

Have set up on the bench a "mock up" of pump and cut off relay to see how stable the flow thro` the pump is and to measure the current draw. Relay draw is minimal. Both combined draw 2 amps until fuel flows and then settles to 1.8amps. (This with fuel exiting open end so will update this when vehicle is running on the road). It would appear that the "fuel pressure" should be around 2 to 2.5 psi for these carbs per the Weber instructions that come with the carbs so that`s the planned ball park and I will see how that goes initially.

Coil is repositioned and mounted to a modified fuel pump blanking plate and sits behind the distributor. This will entail some changes to the wiring. (Back again to soldering outside in heavy morning frosts. Thought I was passed kneeling on sub zero concrete  ).

Sorry, minor point of order, CF Bedfords had 34 ICH carbs, same as an ICT but with a manual choke mechanism. The ICH is still quite a popular conversion for old petrol engined Land Rovers.

My mind is full of this nonsense but I couldn't for the life of me remember why I just went in the kitchen...

Dave.... are you old enough to remember Bill Blydenstein ?     He was of Dutch origin but grew up in the UK to become the number one Vauxhall tuning guru... specializing in cylinder head work.... His cars raised quite a few eyebrows, mine included, when I watched his Ventora rocket round the track. Not the sort of car to visually stand out as a track car. I never had the cash to buy a Ventora but a pal of mine`s dad had one. Think the engine was a 2.3 litre straight six. A really nice drive,

You not alone in having a head crammed full of stuff that to most folk is of no use at all....

Sticking to the basics for all you guys out there that may be new to old school motoring....

This is an old chestnut that has been argued back and forth for as long as I remember...

Twin carb` manifold breathing.....  Do you need to have a breather pipe between two manifolds..... Well some say yes and others say it makes no detrimental effect to idling to connect just to one.  (Same with distributor vacuum connection).

With regard to connecting the distributor vacuum mechanism to both carbs` I just cannot remember how VW did it. Have tried to recall a picture in my head from 1974 but I cannot.
With regard to breather connection to both manifolds I can.... I had a notchback in 1974. The plan was to put the engine in my buggy but the notchback proved to be such a revelation compared to my Beetles that I could not bring myself to strip it down. Fate intervened and whilst going round a very sharp bend at high speed I went thro` a hedge and fence literally ripping engine and gearbox off the chassis. A total write off. This vehicle left so many memories that I do not understand why I never had another one and they are now super rare with regard to coming up for sale in original un-messed about with condition.

Anyway... the engine, being of flat variety, and having twin carbs did have the manifold breathing between both carb manifolds. So with this in mind, and being as VW intended it`s the route I am taking.....

I have routed the breather pipe around the "rear" of the engine taking care that it is supported and sits below the fan intake and that when the rear tinware is fitted it will be further supported in a bow either side so as to leave access to the two engine bolt nuts and the pipe will not make getting a spanner to them difficult....  You do need to be careful to ensure the connections at the manifold barbs do not leak. Check with a quick spray of WD40 when engine is running.  When it comes to tuning in the carbs you will need to disconnect the breather pipe at one carb and plug it up. (When you are at this point one of the two carbs will be the one you choose depending on airflow first recorded. Will go into that later.).