Carb tuning

[wics51]

I'm new to this VW stuff, only had my trike about 3 weeks. Checked gas milage today and I'm only getting about 22 mpg. I've got a 1915 cc engine, and I'm pretty sure the carb is a weber 40mm IDF. I've also got a little hesitation right off idle. Shouldn't I be getting better mpg than this?

[Gorilla]

Sounds about right to me. The stock 1600 VW only got 24 MPH. Yea you lost some weight with the trike but with the bigger engine and 22 is good. My daughters trike with a stock engine gets 24 mph.

[Ozarkryder]

When we had The Blue Trike, a 1600 bumped to a dual runner 1835cc with a dual throat 40mm Dell'Orto DRLA carb, we got around 25mpg. That was after I had played with the mixture and jetting for the best mpg and still have the power to be able to tow a motorcycle camper trailer. We were told the previous owner had geared the tranny to pull a full size Coleman pop-up. Spun pretty quick and got barely 20mpg until we went back to stock tranny gearing. Sounds like you are in the ballpark.

A thing to remember about the VW Bug is that it had a reputation for good gas mileage. But at the time the Beetles were made, 25mpg was considered huge. I remember taking a trip from Minnesota to Michigan before the oil crunch in the 70's in a Chevy station wagon. Dad was ecstatic with mileage in the mid-teens. Nobody seemd concerned with good mileage, they talked about making good time.

[wics51]

Thanks for the info guys, like I said I'm new to all this VW stuff. But I'm learning, and I still love the trike even at 22mpg!