[T3] Old Type IIIs

[Jim Adney]

On 23 Feb 2011 at 7:58, James Lingenfelter wrote:

>     I will be ridiculed, as always, for saying this, but I still  
> stand by it; my type III has been a daily driver for 7 years; if it's  
> not running, my family is minus a car. It is used to ferry the kids  
> around, has had to go on long trips, etc. Since I have owned it, I  
> have known a FEW other people that used them as REAL daily drivers,  
> with one friend basically using his as a work truck on unpaved  
> mountain backroads, logging 1,000 miles a week or more. Everybody  
> I've known that REALLY depended on a type III for serious dependable  
> transportation would tell you what I'm about to tell you, and it's  
> very simple: Throw the fuel injection system in the trash and put  
> carburetors on it.

Sure, you may not have been able to get your FI to run right, but 
don't blame the car. I drove FI Type 3s as daily drivers for 35 
years. For most of those years, we had 2 such cars, daily drivers for 
my wife and for me. They started and ran well from -30F to +112F, 
from Death Valley to 8000', and seldom let me down, almost never for 
a FI problem. I almost NEVER had to adjust anything related to the 
FI. It was always rock steady decade after decade. I would still be 
driving them except that I'm no longer willing to do so in our winter 
salt while suffering from the lack of a practical heater.

Yes, you can put carbs on one, and with some effort you can get them 
to run well with them. Most people fail at this, but a few, like you, 
come out ahead. Yes, you can probably get slightly better HP, but 
this won't come without an increase in emissions and a decrease in 
fuel economy. Frankly, if you think you get 40 mi/gal, you're either 
using Imperial gallons or you're not doing the math right. I don't 
think my '62 beetle ever did that well.

Your complaint points to the one weakness in our FI systems: the lack 
of good mechanics who understand them. Yours clearly didn't and I'm 
afraid that experience is all too common. I'm my own mechanic, and it 
was a steep learning curve in the early years. Not much was published 
and even less was understood. That's one of the good things about the 
internet and this list; it makes that info available for those who 
care enough to ask and listen.

Perhaps you got 40 mi/gal one day and that's the day you remember. I 
did that once, too, but then I discovered that I had a 25 mi/hr 
tailwind on an interstate. Not a fair test.

So, yes, I'll give it to you and your carbs for HP, but for 
emissions, fuel economy, long term reliability, and general 
driveability, FI comes out on top.

-- 
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Jim Adney, jadney at vwtype3.org
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
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