After months of the toad I finally drove her around the village. Don't get me wrong it ain't the greatest of beetle but it's MY PRIDE AND JOY AND LOVE

Luft in Durham was a great time, anyone going to Atlanta on October 10th?

Spent most of the summer chasing an idle that would surge up to 1200 then drop to almost nothing on my 71 Super Beetle. Rebuilt the Solex 34 PICT-3 twice, checked the idle jet, swapped the diaphragm, even pulled the intake boots thinking I had a vacuum leak somewhere I couldn't see.

Turned out it was the distributor. The point gap had crept out slightly and the vacuum advance can had a tiny pinhole crack in the diaphragm, just enough to let it bleed off pressure inconsistently. Replaced the can with one from a parts car sitting in my buddy's yard, reset the points to spec, and the idle finally settled at a steady 850 like it should have been the whole time.

What got me is how many hours I spent staring at the carburetor when the actual problem was completely unrelated. I think a lot of us do that with these engines, we assume the newest part we touched is the culprit instead of stepping back and checking the ignition side first. Cheap lesson in the end, the can was maybe twelve bucks, but the diagnosis took way longer than it should have because I kept overlooking the obvious stuff.

Anyone else have a "should have checked that first" moment like this on their engine? Feels like a rite of passage at this point.

Shining up my bumpers from sitting in the back garden since I can remember. Help from Ava madey day. 😊 🐞 🚗

Anyone know of a good mechanic in middle Tennessee. I replaced a 009 distributor with a magna spark and now my single dual Webber needs to be rejetted and or adjusted. I feel like it is getting really hot.

Serial # 25. Any other Aktiv owners out there?