1996 Road Hawk Handicapped Trike

[hawkmtn33]

hawkmtn33...... check the valve lash, valve springs, especially the intakes.....if a spring is broken or lash is too tight the piston coming up on compression will blow your intake fuel/air mixture back out f the cylinder ......making starting and idle almost impossible....also I'm assuming a good blue spark at cranking rpm, and timing set around 10 deg. if a miss shows up after the engine warms up........again check valve lash....better a tad loose than too tight. These, and most engines don't have to be perfect to run pretty darn good! good luck on your trouble shooting!

Once again thank you for the info, all I get I pass on to my mech, hopefully it will be running good real soon.

[hawkmtn33]

You keep saying carbs.....as in plural.

What carbs do you have?

Stock or stock type solex or kadron single barrel carbs can corrode and plug up solid in the low speed fuel circuit.

I had an empi copy of a solex that was so plugged that I was wondering if I was wrong or if it had not been machined from the factory. After several attempts I did finally get a wire through it. Just kept breaking wires out of the wire brush and stabbing at it.

I believe there duel webers. Thank you for the info

[grandpanystrom61]

If they are dual Webbers this article over in Samba also covers them. Breaking them down, some of the troubles with each one, what others do to correct it. This is one place I learned more about my Kad's and how they work and some of their issues.

I will have to figure out how to https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/vi...c.php?t=572107 copy and paste the link.

Yes it is a bit long, but this thread covers a few different carb models and has a lot of user input on the tips and tricks about them.

Mechanical or electrical fuel pump, if they work for idle one thinks they will work all the time, not always true, maybe just check out put pressure of the fuel pump a

at a low RPM and a high RPM.

I do not know if you can copy that thread to a thumb drive or DVD to have so you could get the info to your mechanic friend. He might find it very useful in the future.

Hope all is going forward and you are getting ever closer to riding again.

[FuzzyWuzHe]

Okay ... once you get the mechanics figured out ... your gonna have to paint it red ... or paint your chair purple ...

[hawkmtn33]

Picked it up from the mechanic 2 weeks ago, been to 1 parade with it already and on the way home she was back firing like crazy. I picked up some seafoam and poured that in with a fill up of high test and opened her up for a good couple a miles that seemed to clear out whatever was clogging the carbs and no more back firing. Have put about 300 miles on her in the last week and a half. Still have some bugs to work out but she's coming along and fun as all heck to ride Will keep posting as I go along, come Winter will be looking to take her in for a new coat, not sure what color yet or what theme I'll be going for, but whatever it is I'm sure she'll be hot

[grandpanystrom61]

time to pick the bugs off your teeth, LOL

So glad to hear it and it is so awesome you are enjoying it, keep safe our friend.

[hawkmtn33]

time to pick the bugs off your teeth, LOL

So glad to hear it and it is so awesome you are enjoying it, keep safe our friend.

Just wanted to say thank you to all those here in this forum. The people and the info that one can find in here is truly amazing and so very helpful. I will be sure to keep everyone up to date on my progress.

[hawkmtn33]

Well after the 1st few rides, the engine was blowing oil like crazy. So I found a VW mech, to take it to. He had it the last 2 months. Turns out he has no idea what kind of Rockers are in it. he said it looks as though the head on one side is welded to the block, not from excessive heat or anything but actually welded. As far as I could find out the engine has been rebuilt twice. He said it's a Stroker engine with a bunch of mismatched parts. He did the best he could on replacing what parts he could, new valve seals, new carbs, but the one rocker slides back and forth with so much play it keeps bending the push rod. So I took it for a quick ride when I picked it up the other day, had to wait for the snow to clear and the roads to be clear, of course it had to rain the whole way back lol! It idles way to high and pops like a demon when I stop for a light, looks like it's back to the drawing board for me again. Open to any suggestions, ideas, anything, thanks. and I hope one and all have a Wonderful Holiday Season.

[peteg59]

Not knocking your choice for a mechanic but if I was told "the head was welded to the block", I'd immediately take back my ride from his shop and find a different mechanic ASAP!!!

Perhaps there was a miscommunication between you two, but the heads on all aircooled VW's are separated from the block by iron cylinders that would be difficult at best to "weld" to the alloy heads.

There could have been excessive oil leaking and then hardening/crystallizying from between the head in question and cylinder, causing it to appear welded, maybe???

Best of luck getting it sorted out, Jim.

[vwbug72501]

I always suggest that new to VW owners contact their local VW club. VW folks are usually a very welcoming, helpful family with access to many specialized resources that they are glad to share. Here's one to contact: http://www.vwccny.com/officers.htm They can probably point you in a good direction.

[DeathBySnuSnu]

I am with Pete about this.

In no uncertain terms can the head be welded to the block.

A type 1 vw engine does not have valve seals.

What carbs did he put on it? NO aftermarket hot rod part will or even can be tuned to your specific engine out of the box. "New" weber carbs would need a lot of tuning and testing to get right.

So....

We hafta figure out whatcha got there.

I am an aftermarket hot parts using guy.....not an actual mechanic....but familiar with the hot rod stuff.

First......Pictures are a must.

Vw heads are an aluminum alloy and the part it mates with is cast iron. It can not be welded....but it can be stuck. Typically if the engine is used regularly it will not stick. The two metals heat and expand at different rates so that joint is always moving. Now if the engine sat for years out in the weather the iron could rust and become stuck to the aluminum.

The bad news about an engine that has sat in the weather is.......all the other parts could be affected also. Such as water/humidity in the cylinder bores causing rust. Carbs also damaged by long standing water in them. Also heads and valves are easy to let be damaged by weathering.

Rockers......all hot rod aftermarket rockers are made to be very little side play and shimmed solid.

Only the stock rockers which have the hairpin clips and wavy washers are the ones that can have huge side to side play. You probably have stock rockers or you have something terribly broken.

Pictures of rockers, heads under the valve covers where the springs are, carbs, underneath where the push rod tubes are, joint where the cylinders meet the block and where they meet the head. The I'd number at the generator stand. The sides of the oil sump where numbers are.

[hawkmtn33]

Not knocking your choice for a mechanic but if I was told "the head was welded to the block", I'd immediately take back my ride from his shop and find a different mechanic ASAP!!!

Perhaps there was a miscommunication between you two, but the heads on all aircooled VW's are separated from the block by iron cylinders that would be difficult at best to "weld" to the alloy heads.

There could have been excessive oil leaking and then hardening/crystallizying from between the head in question and cylinder, causing it to appear welded, maybe???

Best of luck getting it sorted out, Jim.

Could be I misunderstood him on what he was saying, it was all pretty much Greek to me. But yes there was a real bad oil leak, engine was pretty much covered all over. on the 1 side 1 Cylinder was covered in a crust of black carbon and the other was clean as a whistle.

[hawkmtn33]

I am with Pete about this.

In no uncertain terms can the head be welded to the block.

A type 1 vw engine does not have valve seals.

What carbs did he put on it? NO aftermarket hot rod part will or even can be tuned to your specific engine out of the box. "New" weber carbs would need a lot of tuning and testing to get right.

So....

We hafta figure out whatcha got there.

I am an aftermarket hot parts using guy.....not an actual mechanic....but familiar with the hot rod stuff.

First......Pictures are a must.

Vw heads are an aluminum alloy and the part it mates with is cast iron. It can not be welded....but it can be stuck. Typically if the engine is used regularly it will not stick. The two metals heat and expand at different rates so that joint is always moving. Now if the engine sat for years out in the weather the iron could rust and become stuck to the aluminum.

The bad news about an engine that has sat in the weather is.......all the other parts could be affected also. Such as water/humidity in the cylinder bores causing rust. Carbs also damaged by long standing water in them. Also heads and valves are easy to let be damaged by weathering.

Rockers......all hot rod aftermarket rockers are made to be very little side play and shimmed solid.

Only the stock rockers which have the hairpin clips and wavy washers are the ones that can have huge side to side play. You probably have stock rockers or you have something terribly broken.

Pictures of rockers, heads under the valve covers where the springs are, carbs, underneath where the push rod tubes are, joint where the cylinders meet the block and where they meet the head. The I'd number at the generator stand. The sides of the oil sump where numbers are.

I'll have to get the pictures and videos he took. The 1 rocker that he showed me had a lot of play side to side and I mean he said a lot and that's what he said is bending the push rod. I went down from the Dual Webers to single EMPI's, he said the Dual Weber's were to much for the engine which he thinks is somewhere between 1800 and 1900 cc's. I'm going to try the suggestion of the local VW Club and see what I can find out. I'm new to VW's and know nothing about them Will try and get some pics, right now it's pretty hard, being in the wheelchiar and getting to it in the garage is pretty tight and really cold in the garage lol!

W

[hawkmtn33]

I always suggest that new to VW owners contact their local VW club. VW folks are usually a very welcoming, helpful family with access to many specialized resources that they are glad to share. Here's one to contact: http://www.vwccny.com/officers.htm They can probably point you in a good direction.

Sounds like a plan to me, I book marked the page and will be sure to contact, see who they can put me in touch with, I have no idea when it comes to VW's, thank you for the info.

[vwbug72501]

Jim, Since you're new to VWs, you've got some mobility issues, and it's WINTER in NY, I'd suggest that your time would be well spent pursuing some basic knowledge about the Type1 VW. You may not be able to actually do all the work necessary but at least you will know when the BS starts flowing.

Type1s have a plethora of interchangeable parts and most engines seen today are hybrid "mutts". Rex's Tech, Tech, Tech,.... thread is full of very good, accurate information: https://www.triketalk.com/forum/thre...-build-a-trike

There is a lot of info on the old Interweb, unfortunately, half of it is cr*p so a basic knowledge of Vws is necessary to filter to filter out the good info.

Here are 3 books that I recommend for any newbie:

https://www.amazon.com/Volkswagen-Be...qid=1544038721

https://www.amazon.com/Keep-Volkswag...KNV8DDRS5CD37T

https://www.amazon.com/Rebuild-Volks...KNV8DDRS5CD37T

I've had good luck with used manuals from Amazon sellers. Usually a few grease smudges or dogeared pages / covers. Maybe Santa can bring you something.

[DeathBySnuSnu]

And that is an excellent and on point suggestion.

That is the best of the learning books.

[hawkmtn33]

Thank you I appreciate all the info and will get the books. I have a pic I posted here and I have a small video of what the play in the part, but do not know how or if it's aloud to upload a video.

[DeathBySnuSnu]

Ok then....

Yep you do have a "put together" engine.

It does look to be all aftermarket hot rod type stuff and all based on the late 1600 dual port engine.

This all good news other than the fact that NO book will have the exact and/or specifics of your engine details.

Of course it all assembles and in a very general way is like a stock 1600.

So.

Looks like claudes buggies stuff. CB Performance as it is known today.

That is their heads. They built that head in a dozen different varieties and for use with different displacement and cam combinations. You can not tell from the outside, but they could be as cast round ports all the way to monster cnc ported super pros. You had the intakes off.....where to ports round? Oval? Oblong?

That is stock rockers on a solid shaft kit. This is the most basic and common rocker upgrade. Got rid of the sloppy fall apart wavy washers, which is good. Not good for huge cams but absolutely fine for any (non ratio) milder camshaft.

It does look like they were shimmed on the side play at one time (lots of shims in there). It was probably right at one time. These shaft kits do not have anything to make the hold down blocks or the center spacer stay in one place.

For example.....say each rocker had .010 side play. When you bolt them down you would have to wiggle all those loose blocks and spacers around to spread that side play evenly across all 4 rockers.

This pic looks like the rocker assembly was just thrown back on with all the slack accumulated at the 3rd rocker from the left.

It will clickety clack purdy loud, but .040 side play is not going to bend rockers or push rods.

The engine case/block is an aftermarket replacement from Brazil. CB perf sells these all machined and ready to become a hot rod.

I bet that valve cover leaked a lot of oil.....

[peteg59]

X2 on what Rex said^.

The valve cover was never correctly installed, as the pinch marks from the cover is clearly etched on the cork gasket.

As I mentioned earlier, you need to find another mechanic. His handiwork is a glaring example of obvious shoddy workmanship.

[vwbug72501]

+1