Good morning Everyone

Post bump

Friday Cruise to Flamborough Lighthouse for Tea and evening Cruise

Saturday Cruise upto Whitby  , it is Pirate Weekend in Whitby so don't forget your Pirate hats for the cruise ⚔️

See you all Thursday 

Take the heating element body off carb and power it up with a 12v supply. after marking the position of the element end bit. Give it 10 minutes to warm up taking care because the metal body should get quite hot, (45 to 50 degrees C. When hot marl where the element end is and let it cool down. Lubricate the choke butterfly spindle and see if it moves freely. It should not feel sticky at any point. Using the markings judge where the body wants to be with the heating element end just touching the choke connection. Screw down and mark the carb body as a reference point. with a correctly working choke spindle and bimetal element and the carb mixture slow idling set correctly and correct float level set start the engine. Allow the engine to run at fast idle and watch the choke butterfly and the segmented quadrant. As the choke element heats the butterfly should open and you should see the quadrant move position until fully open all of it`s own accord.
It says something regarding aftermarket carbs that Gower & Lee, the carb refurbishers I use, will not touch anything but a genuine German made Solex carb. Not even a genuine South African "Kafer" marked carb.

Quote from: PhillipM on August 19, 2026, 07:42:50 PMI always just used a coin for those curved slot nuts. Or a washer and mole grips.

Never thought of a washer and mole grips - but access on the CU engine may be a little restricted for that

I always just used a coin for those curved slot nuts. Or a washer and mole grips.

im down for the full duration,  so will lookout for you 

thanks for the replies!

choke seems to have other issues though
stuck in full open position and won't close when cold, unless using some force (then it will open up nicely while warming up)
after some reading, seems like the choke on the empi carbs is a bit of hit or miss...

When I was looking at the relief valves Chris (Doon-L004) kindly sent me a set of plugs for use with Allen keys. Well worth getting as they stay on the end of the Allen key when relocating them.

Instead of draining oil jack up the LH side front and back and you'll only loose a little.

Never left outside, but I agree - time to take a look at the Pressure relief valve. I could just about see the nut holding it in and tucked behind my oil filter, exhaust pipes, rear cage and tow bar which should indicate just how accessible this was going to be and knew that once again, I had to drain the oil.

Its one of those jobs that is often overlooked because the nut is really tight. Bastard tight.



If you have ever tried taking that screw off, you will know how hard it is. It looks like a slotted screw, but don't be fooled as that slot is also curved internally to a perfect shape that a wide screwdriver does not fit and a smaller one will destroy the sides of the nut as you try to turn it. The only way I have ever got that nut undone is by using the curved end of an old fashioned tyre iron and a pair of mole grips, but to make that work properly the engine has to be upside down on the work bench. Starting to get the idea how tough this job is?

But, there must be a tool for this surely? In my 40+ years of playing with Beetle Engines I have never come across one nor heard of anyone that knows what else to use. So with a picture of the above retaining nut, I decided to use AI to identify it. Took a few goes, but it seems to herald from the Aircraft Industry and was called an HTS bit. A search on Amazon then came up with a Company called Apex-Tools that sold HTS Bits, and I reckoned I needed size number 4.



I can now see why people use screwdrivers as being Aircraft tools, they are near 3 figures a bit. 
Thankfully, I found someone on eBay selling a complete set second hand, and fifty quid later they were on my doorstep.

Worth every single penny    Popped number 4 on the end of my ratchet and undid that screw with considerable ease. 

As I withdrew the long spring and the valve on the end, I couldn't help but notice just how clean and shiny the internals of the engine were. It was almost a mirror finish in there and whilst I expected no less from a Farmer Rob engine, it does go to show how impressive that tine of Wynns Engine Flush was.

So this is the offending article - the actual Pressure relief valve.





Mine was spotless, clean, no visible marks or scores as was the long tube that it went up inside. You can buy replacement valves (just) but I could not accept that replacing a lump of undamaged vintage VW metal for an aftermarket lump of Chineseum was going to help. So cleaned it all up and put it back together. Filled back up with oil and started the engine.

Guess what. 

During my searches, I had seen many sites selling replacement springs and for the sake of £8, it was something that could be tried fairly easily so once again I drained the oil.

Comparing the old and new springs side by side showed that there was a slight difference. Whilst they were both the same length, the tension in my old one was considerably less. No idea what this would do, but at least I am changing something this time around instead of just changing oil. The spring was fitted and I fired up the engine. This time things were noticeably different from the start.

The gauge is indicating more pressure being read. When started from stone cold its around 4.5 bar, sits upper mid way on the gauge when driving about and when you come to a set of lights after ragging it about the gauge shows 1.5 bar at tickover when very very VERY hot.

Has it cured it?  Don't Know.    Looks promising, but I have been here before. 
If not, then the next thing to look at is oil pump, and that's a pretty major job with my setup.

The downside is that with my new oil pressure that I now have an oil leak somewhere at the rear of the engine. Gut feeling is that the Crank seal may have started to weep which is unsurprising on a car that has been sat around for the last few years, but I will put some miles on it first so that the traces of oil are easer to spot when I can be bothered to get round to it.

Good luck Dave.
Not quite the same as mine, no gloop in mine, but mine needed a dose of Rob magic to sort.

Pull the pressure relief valves and give then a clean also do the seating faces then reassemble. Water ingress could be the air filters with last winters heavy rain if it was parked outside at any time.