How To Tune A Carburetor on 1.3 Golf MK1

Hi all,

Wondering if anyone could help me. It would be greatly appreciated.

I repaired my carburetor by purchasing a carb kit. I've also replace the rubber seat the carburetor sits on. The issue I'm left with now is most probably a carburetor tune as the car does not want to idle. I'm having a hard time getting it to start as well. Once started I have to rev it to keep it idling. As soon as I let go of the accelerator though the car cuts out. it starts, idles for 5 seconds and cuts out. Also, before it actually starts it stutters terribly, slowly building up to an idle with a puff of smoke.

I suspect this has something to do with the air/fuel mixture and I need to tune the carb.

I have no idea how to do that though. When fiddling with the two screws, one at the top of the carb and the other at the back, I'm adding to my frustration as the car seems to flood itself after my attempts.

I would appreciate it if anybody can provide me with a step by step guide on how to tune this carburetor. Please bare in mind that I do not own any specialized tools. I'm merely using a flat screwdriver for this adjustment and playing the rest by ear.

Thanks in advance.

John

Hi John, do you know what carb its got on it. It will likley be a Weber or a Solex unit. Will say on the top somewhere.

Chris

My previous post was somewhat incomplete. Sorry about that. Here are some pictures of the carb in question. The arrows indicate the position of the 2 adjusting screws. I have no idea whether it is a Solex or a Weber though.



 

Looks like a solex, as my weber is different. No idea on how they work sorry. 

hi mate, i have an '83 1.3 and have just done pretty much a whole rebuild of the car. from what your saying i would suggest you set the 'dwell' on the distributor as well as setting the timing with a strobe light before you start adjusting the carb.  if it was running and idling fine before you did your carb repair then im not sure. i dont recognize your carb mine is a solex PICT (6) i think yours might be an older model of solex. on mine the larger of the two screws is for the idle and the smaller for the mixture. if youve put new jets and stuff in it might be over fuelling as the old ones may have been congested. the small screw is for the mixture and i think you'd want to screw IN  for less fuel and OUT for more. you could try adjusting the idle screw so that it will at least idle for you. but if you can check the ignition timing first. oh and its also a good idea when adjusting the screws to do one half or one full turn of the screw and remember how many you give it. cheers

check it with a glass colourtune spark plug and if that dont help check you have rebuilt the carb correctly,colourtune plugs about 15 quid nowadays,hope that of any help