From not-so-fast-ed: <<JT, 1300 CC engine in the "Wolfsburg Wildcat"?>>
Ed, about the only VW Beetlers (can't use the nickname "Bug" in that context for reasons that would amuse our UK and Aussie members
) who still have 1300s in their '66s are those who put them on blocks, trailer them to shows, and start them up for only a few minutes during the judging. Wolfsburg made the 1300 engine only one model year (1965-66) for the US market. By spring 1989, when I blew up my 1300 spectacularly on I-66 on the way from Fairfax to Lexington, VA, 1300-cc pistons & jugs were virtually extinct in the parts pipeline, much less a 1300 remanufactured engine. For that reason and the fact that the '66 (or at least the earlier ones) had 6-volt systems, collectors and hard-core restorationists avoid the '66. Thus, like most '66 drivers, I have a hybrid: in my case, a '66 VW with a 1600 in it.
Since my 1300 was no longer virgin, I saw nothing to be lost in making the car a good "daily driver." Therefore, when I had it restored in '94, I went full 12v configuration. (I already had converted partially to 12v.) In the second round the Bug received 2-speed wipers, a larger clutch, flywheel & starter ( all from '67), a heated rear window ('68), a middling Sony stereo, heavy-duty front anti-sway bar, a camber compensator bar on the rear, and Bilstein gas-filled shocks. Did very little to the engine except an electronic ignition and a larger-bore carb. It doesn't go very fast, but it corners like a demon! (Kinda like the R65 in the hands of someone
else who knows how to ride it!)
The carb was a necessity, not a farkle. I hit a bump at >70 mph, dodging trucks in a blinding rain while in the passing lane of southbound I-95 on a Sunday afternoon in the summer of 1989. I lost
all engine power
instantaneously, but managed to dead-stick the Bug into the right lane & then park on the shoulder. I put on the hazard flashers (new in the '66 US model(!!), got out, opened the engine hatch, and started checking the first of the usual suspects (coil wires and distributor cap) for a disconnect. They were OK. Was about to close up, get my soaked body inside, and pray that a state cop would show up before a semi rear-ended me. (Pre-cell phone days.) Gave one last look at the engine & noticed that where the carb & oil-bath air cleaner should have been, there was only a manifold pipe and mounting flange sticking up like it was giving me the finger. The carb's threaded holes in its base were soft metal (aluminum?) & had worn smooth (or more likely, had been stripped by over-tightening the studs) over the years, so that gravity alone was keeping the carb mounted on the manifold. When I hit the bump, it bounced the carb & air cleaner off the manifold; they were hanging upside-down, still attached by the linkage cable and fuel line, beside the manifold. I put the carb back on the manifold (the worn studs slipped nicely into the stripped threads) started it up (no problem, bless the Bug!), and drove
carefully the rest of the way to Richmond. Next day, I bought a new (i.e., rebuilt) carb.
Post-script to the carburetor incident: I previously had been experiencing an occasional weird "burping" in the engine when I pulled away from a stoplight. It would last for only a half-second or so, then the car would accelerate normally. Couldn't figure out what was going on. It seemed to happen on hot days, so I conjured up all kinds of fuel-air mixture theories, etc. I even got on the NPR "car guys" radio program in the fall of 1988, when they were just as funny as now but not yet rich & famous & were on NPR for only 5 minutes on the "Weekend Edition" show on Saturday & Sunday mornings. The car guys couldn't pinpoint it, but gave me general theories about the carburetor or vacuum advance maybe being bad. When the carb dropped off the manifold, it gave me the answer: When I'd pull away from a stoplight, the carb rocked backward on its mount, creating a momentary vacuum leak when the front edge of the carb no longer formed a seal with the manifold. The engine lost power, the car decelerated, the carb dropped back onto its mount, the vacuum leak ceased to exist, and the engine ran normally again. Go figure! :-?
The Car Guys have an occasional feature on their present program that they call "Stump the Chumps," in which they review old advice that they have given in the past, then learn whether they gave correct advice the first time. I've considered sending in the carb story and possibly getting another 30 seconds of notoriety.
