I adjusted the mixture screw last night until I could blip the throttle
without it trying to die. Then I drove it around the neighborhood a bit,
and it seemed to drive pretty well, although it was not perfect. Once it
got over about 5000 at WOT it really came alive, something it has not
done well since I've owned it. It may be still too lean, and it has
that odd smell that I used to associate with incorrect ignition timing.
Additional tuning is indicated, but I am going to try and leave that
for the next owner. Thanks much to Dave and others for your help.
- -
Rex Burkheimer
WM Automotive
Fort Worth TX

Rex B wrote:
> OK guys, here's where I'm at now with this (formerly) dead VW:
>
> After going through everything from air cleaner to intake, repairing
> what little I could find wrong, replacing all suspect vac hoses, and
> fixing one vacuum leak, I got it where I could drive it - barely. It's
> obviously running way lean, because once I get the throttle into the WOT
> enrichment, it wakes up immediately.
> I know the rice-rocket shop turned the fuel distributor adjustment
> screw a bunch, not knowing what they were doing. My question is, does
> that have an effect on the basic running mixture (as opposed to idle
> only)? Can I expect to crank the 3mm adjustment screw a little at a
> time and bring the mixture into a drivable range?
> I know the correct way to do this is with an ammeter reading the o2
> sensor circuit, but the o2 sensor does not get hot enough to operate for
> this purpose. Remember this is a race car, and most people racing these
> effectively bypass the o2 sensor and treat it as a straight CIS system.