Engine is soooooo slow

Im not sure if its just the winter taking its toll but my engine seems to be soo slow and I really have to push it to keep up with modern traffic which is making my fuel economy poo at 30-31 mpg which i had hoped would improve since putting a 5 speed in but i got the same mpg if not more with the 4 speed and it can reach about the same speeds so i dont see the point in me doing it cf_emoticons__BangHead:its on 173,000 miles and the car is mostly original which is making it hard for me to decide whether or not I should stick a better engine in because everyone does that which is bringing up the value of original cars like mine is mostly. But on the other hand its not exactly desirable, high mileage, 1.3 driver (very common), poo paint, needs welding and worn original seats so I dont know what to do really

On the basis it's got slower than it was, and assuming that all is ok in servicing front - i.e. plugs, dizzy cap etc etc then look for vacuum leaks first off, that could effect both performance and MPG

well it had a good service and headwork done in august so everything like that is really new, also I think it needs a bit of a carb tune since i put a k&n in it and then the 5 speed seems to have made acceleration a massive struggle so I think those things are to blame, I have thought about putting a weber on it as they are meant to give a bit more power and better mpg and i could go back to 4 speed but at the end of the day its still going to be very slow. Im not some a boy racer or anything but it really does get annoying when your revving it up in 3rd and only just keeping up with the 1.0 toyota yaris or what ever in front

Worth checking everything before putting the weber on, if you've got another issue, like a vacuum leak, you'll still have the same problem.

They can be a pain to trace but if you're methodical you should be able to locate a problem without too much bother

Yeah ill have to have a good look at things tomorrow  

31mpg?! Jealous  I was getting about 25 from my 1.3. Don't think it was set us well at all.

I've got a couple of 34ich webers. You can have one for a good price if you want, needs gaskets and a few jets. I would honestly take your pooburg/ solex to someone who knows what they are doing though. They are meant to be really good if set up well.

Not sure if this will help as I've only really worked on 1.6 and 1.8 engines but when you had the head off and all done is the timing right?
I put a new cam belt on my Golf and was a tooth out on the cam shaft, the car would start, run ok but was flat when trying to press on, I lived with it for a 6 months then got feed up so gave it a service, new plugs etc, I then checked the timing and that's when I realized what I done, set all the timing up again and it was like driving a differnet car :-)
With the webber carb is won't make any differance to the performance or fuel economy if your orginal carb is set up right, what it is with webbers are they are alot easier to set up by anyone than an orginal carb, you really need someone who know what they are doing not a garage/tuners whos idea of tuning is pluging in a laptop! 

The guy I took it too was a real vw nut and had camped andseveral mk1s in at the time so he really know what hes doing, the car drove amazingly in the summer and im thinking that the issue lies with the thermostat because the temp gauge never gets above the second line. I'll have a check of the timing but as I said, it ran really well until it got cold.
Your probably right abiut the Weber as I'vee heard that they re the sme as a well tuned solex

Is the new K&N filter one that fits inside the orginal air box or one that replaces the air box and sits on top of the carb?

Its just one that goes in the airbox, as the others can cause carb icing I think?

Yes that right about carb icing with the filter bolted to the top of the carb that's what I thought could be your problem.

Im actually suspecting a underheating (if that thats a word lol) issue, maybe the thermostat is broke or not even there?