[T3] FI to Carb conversion

Keith Park topnotch at nycap.rr.com
Sun Nov 17 17:05:04 PST 2013 

Lets see, with this car Ive put about 170K with stock injection, never
stranded, about 5oK on the 73 I had before this, also cross country trips,
pikes peak etc. etc.

My Opel went 182K with its stock L jet before I sold it, never stranded.

I think the key to reliable injection is NOT having had someone butcher the
system or mess it up.  If things have been spliced or cut up then all bets
are off unless its repaired properly.  A good solid system really doesn't
have all that many components, therefore not much to go wrong.

Keith


Top Notch Restorations
topnotch at nycap.rr.com 
http://www.a383ina68.addr.com/radiorest/main.htm
71 Squareback "Hothe"
65 Notchback "El Baja Rojo"
65 Squareback "Eggcrate"
87 golf "Winterat"
93 RX7 "Redstur"


-----Original Message-----
From: type3-vwtype3.org-bounces at lists.vwtype3.org
[mailto:type3-vwtype3.org-bounces at lists.vwtype3.org] On Behalf Of James
Lingenfelter
Sent: Sunday, November 17, 2013 9:43 PM
To: type3 at vwtype3.org
Subject: Re: [T3] FI to Carb conversion

That's what it came down to for me. My '68 was a daily driver, often  
driven by my wife. It was used and abused like a truck, in the most  
extreme conditions possible in the U.S.... from well below zero to  
well over 100 degrees, from sea level to over 12,000 feet elevation.  
The car was abused for 10 years with those Weber carbs, and not once  
did the car ever die on me, fail to start, or leave me stranded. Once  
the carbs were installed and jetted, not once in ten years did a tool  
ever touch them.... not even to sync them. Can anyone say that about  
the F. I.? During the car's travels, whenever somebody approached me  
with a "I used to have one of those" story, it generally went like  
this: "I bought one of those new in '73, but traded it in after 6  
months because it never ran right". I wish I could find it now, but I  
once came across an old article from one of the automotive journals,  
which stated the VW type 3 had one of the highest customer  
dissatisfaction ratings of any vehicle ever sold in the U.S.  
Something incredible like 70% had "buyer's remorse". The main reason?  
Yep, F. I. issues. In any case, if you depend on the car like I did,  
with no backup vehicle options.... I can't imagine doing it with the  
F.I.. My hat is off to you guys that manage to do it.

Having said all that, I am now the terrified owner of a Porsche 912E,  
which has L-Jetronic injection.  In the first six months of  
ownership, injection issues already reared their ugly head.  
Fortunately, I found a close and reasonable Porsche guru, who  
instantly diagnosed what I could not, and with some relatively minor  
adjustments, saved me from what would've been a neverending saga of  
replacing expensive parts to try and fix the problem. So on a car  
that just comes out of the garage on weekends, in good weather, and  
with an F.I. expert on hand when needed..... the F.I. is great. It  
runs great when everything is working.

Jimmy

P.S. I just remembered, that car did strand me ONCE.... I had a  
sticking front caliper, and experienced complete brake failure.







On Nov 17, 2013, at 4:00 PM, B Fye wrote:

> Here is my question:  what is more important, having a marginally  
> running car or a car you can get in and go?  If the carbs allow her  
> enjoyment of the car then carbs are the way to go for her.
>
> Brian Fye
>
>> On Nov 17, 2013, at 3:53 PM, Bobsnotch at aol.com wrote:
>>
>> In a message dated 11/17/2013 5:48:29 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
>> trongey at sbcglobal.net writes:
>>
>> Terrie,
>> I hope you're just trolling the list with this  post.  Otherwise  
>> you've
>> been robbed, and things are going to go downhill  from here.
>> For $6000 you could have bought 2 or 3 FI motors ready to drop  in  
>> and go.
>> On top of that if your (new) mechanic is asking you to ask us  how  
>> to make
>> the conversion then he's not a mechanic, at least not a qualified  VW
>> mechanic.
>>
>> I believe her and her husband put that 6K into getting the car going,
>> along with the cost of the car. She had been driving it, up until  
>> it started
>> having issues. I believe she's got a Jim Adney fuel vent hose kit  
>> on it, after
>> they replaced the fuel tank (rusted out), and has had it to 2  
>> different
>> mechanics, who would get it to run ok for a couple of days, then  
>> it would
>> have  problems, go back to the mechanic for more work, only for it  
>> to return
>> again.  I think she's been fighting that issue for over a year now.
>> That kind of stuff will leave a bad taste in your mouth after a  
>> while. I
>> know, as I've been there myself, and I do all of my repair work.  
>> When you go
>> thru the entire system several times, and don't find the problem,  
>> it gets
>> really frustrating. Test after test, and you get results that say  
>> everything
>> is fine. You spend 500 bucks for a new FI wiring harness, only to  
>> find
>> out that didn't do anything. You buy up extra parts, and swap them  
>> in, only to
>> find out there's no change. After not driving the car for 6  
>> months, you
>> begin  to ask why you haven't fixed it, or sold it. :O
>> Others here have converted to carbs, and have had great results. They
>> enjoy driving the car again. They don't have FI issues to worry  
>> about.
>> Sometimes, that change is for the good.
>>
>> The biggest issues I've ever had with running carbs, were a bad coil,
>> forgetting to re-set the points, and having the spring side of the  
>> points fall
>> out of the plastic piece that supports them (they grounded out). I  
>> haven't
>> had  jetting issues (with either brand), or anything like that. I  
>> do have a
>> carb  sync tool, and I do check that every spring, but that's it.
>>
>> I remember when I first joined this list back in 2000. The most  
>> common
>> threads were about FI troubles (and I had carbs, so I didn't post  
>> much back
>> then). If you go to the Samba, you'll find similar threads about  
>> FI problems
>> there too.
>>
>> Are carbs for everyone? No. But the same can be said for FI as  well.
>>
>>
>> Bob 65  Notch S w/Sunroof and IRS aka Krusty
>> 64 T-34 Ghia aka Wolfie
>> 71  Square-vert under  construction
>>
>>
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