With Wings As Eagles: Craig P. Steffen's Blog

may be a light at the end of the tunnel

2010 March 28 22:39

I'm going to have to take back a few things from my last post about my vintage beetle.  The fuel pipe through the center of the body is fine.  The fuel tank is fine, as is its strainer.  The car wasn't getting gas because there was apparently a kink in the hose that attaches to the bottom of the tank and comes out down underneath the car.

I checked all kinds of causes, then realized that fuel wasn't coming out of the hose from the tank.  I lifted the tank up, and I got fuel again.  Apparently the hose was pinched or twisted in such a way that it blocked the fuel from flowing.  I don't know why fuel flowed and then not, but the mystery is solve.  

The tank lifted partway out and setting in a piece of wood

My solution was quick and dirty, and I think effective Here's a view into the cavity below the tank.  The green arrow points to the round hole where I think the fuel hose is supposed to go.  But I couldn't make it work.  I took the hose down into the between-wheels cavity by a different route, a structural hole nearer the right wheel (red arrow).

Everthing all back together right below the tank; I have a clamp on the fuel line while I'm checking all the connections again.  I got that clamp at the "Axeman" store in Minneapolis.  They're awesome for quickly clamping fuel hoses!  

The engine running from its own fuel tank for the first time since July 2008.  Yay!

The fuel gauge with less than 4 but more than 2 gallons of gas in the tank.  

Lots remains to be done:

Although I was finally able to get a stable idle, the engine ran like crap, with a very unstable idle.  The carb, even having had the throttle shaft rebushed, leaked significantly around the throttle shaft.  The engine didn't respond at all well to the tuning screws on the left side of the carb.  And I could entirely cover the openings to the air cleaner and the car ran faster (a sure sign of air intake leaks).  

The fuel vent system is still decomissioned.  

And then I need to deal with stuff like the brakes, which need fluid replaced, bleeding, and adjusting.