Stock 34 PICT 3 carb tuning

[67SoCal]

I've got a buddy that has a 71 bug with a 1600 in it.  It looks stock.  The car has a hard time idling when it first starts up and wants to die.  When the car is warmed up it's fine.  We swaped the choke from a good working carb and it still had the same problem and we are getting power to the choke.  Can you help?

[QuickKafer]

I would start by removing the carb and disassembling it.  Go to Autozone and get a 1 gallon carb cleaner bucket.  Throw all the parts in it and let it soak over night.  Go to your local VW parts place and spend $10 on a rebuild kit.  When you are putting the carb back together, check the condition of the needle valves.  If they are scored up, someone has over tightened them causing them to be mis-shapened and the seat in the body of the carb to be mashed.  This will effect the performance of the carb.

Put it all back together and then set it up via the Bentley manual with a new gasket under the carb on the intake manifold.  When I was driving my convertible, I used to have a VERY similar problem that you are describing.  It would be hard to keep running when the car was first started until the engine warmed up.  It turned out to be an intake leak at the base of the carb that would seal up as the engine expanded under heat.

Good Luck with the project!

Scott Faivre