72 Westy Restore - Various (J-tubes, Bumpers, carbs)

Drpooj66 · Post by **Drpooj66** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 12:17 pm

I bought this just for fun. My short term goal is to get it legal for the road. Sorry if this has been asked previously:

1) I dont plan on driving in the winter. Any objection to using j-tubes? If so, what size for a stock 1700 engine?

2) new bumpers dont seem to exist for this year. Is there another year that can be easily modified to fit?

3) Do I assume that my carbs are shot? Should I attempt a rebuild, or purchase new?

4) Is there any objection to installing "normal" air cleaners on my carbs? The oil bath is no where to be found.

raygreenwood · Post by **raygreenwood** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 2:41 pm

J-tubes are actually terrible for exhaust flow. Find a pair of at least stock 1700 heater boxes. Get a cheapy thunderbird header as starter for the exhaust. There is no reason to assume that the carbs are shot. Though they are a little finicky they are good carbs. Clean and repair them. Normal air cleaners are fine.
Since thsi engine is a type 4 engine , also be sure to ask questions on teh type 4um. Ray

gmag69 · Post by **gmag69** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 2:21 am

You have the transition year of the Baywindow bus. The front of a 68-71 and the rear of a 72-79. Which bumper do you need? You can usually find good used ones on The Samba in the classifieds. You want a 68-71 bumper for the front and a 72-79 for the rear.

You can rebuild the carbs if they are not working right. Just look around I'm sure someone has a rebuild kit for them.

Here is a thread a started on The Samba about J Tubes. Some info in there for ya.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewto ... ight=tubes

aircooledtechguy · Post by **aircooledtechguy** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 6:24 am

I would just keep the heater boxes as do what Ray said. Simple and cheap.

I personally hate the stock carbs on the buses. Before you spend a dime on rebuilding them, remove the throttle return spring and wiggle the throttle shaft up and down. If there is slop, just replace them with a pair of the Solex replacement carbs from Scat and be done. Slop in the throttle shaft will effectively render them un-tunable because they will have lots of unregulated air coming in giving you uneven idle (basically lots of "UNs"

).

kingd33 · Post by **kingd33** » Sat Feb 09, 2008 8:21 pm

gmag69 wrote:You have the transition year of the Baywindow bus. The front of a 68-71 and the rear of a 72-79. Which bumper do you need? You can usually find good used ones on The Samba in the classifieds. You want a 68-71 bumper for the front and a 72-79 for the rear.

You can rebuild the carbs if they are not working right. Just look around I'm sure someone has a rebuild kit for them.

Here is a thread a started on The Samba about J Tubes. Some info in there for ya.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewto ... ight=tubes

Actually,I think the 72 rear bumper was a one year only bumper. I had someone drop off a bumper for me and I modified it to fit mine(a 73 bumper I think).