bixdog
Daily Driver
- Messages
- 5
Greetings!
I'm a newbie R4 owner (1988 GTL - "Gisella")! Originally from the USA I now live in Lisbon, Portugal. Last year, my wife and I started to sort of "squat" a derelict farm in Maca, about an hour away from Lisbon, that she and her gigantic extended family (really more of a clan) jointly own, and completely disagree about (that's another story). Not having owned a car for years (coming from NYC to Lisbon), it soon became obvious that the taxi-to-bus-to-taxi is a bit problematic for farm life, especially when you want to haul a load of lumber or angle iron.
Having in the 1980's driven several VWs of late 60's era (i would buy for a couple hundred bucks, the type-3 square/fastback being my favorite, but had buses and beetles too), I thought to seek a beater and fix her up like I always did. Well, no VW beaters for a couple hundred, not by a long shot! I could kill myself for giving "Pearl," my cherry, totally original type-3 to my ex-girlfriend, ummm, 20 years ago.
So I decided to buy a "new" car, and Gisella was the obvious choice (In '88 I owned a '68, so to me an '88 is new
I have had her for two months, legal for one.
I love her, she is sweet, noisy, and cranky all at the same time, just like my wife. She's funny to look at, there are quite a few of her sisters on the road here, and it's fun to wave at fellow motorists when passing by. In other words, she is "culty" like the VW.
Running reasonably well (seeing that she "sat-up" for several years), with a clean engine, she cost me 550 EU delivered on a lorry, 80km to the farm. I had contemplated driving the 80km illegal and saving 150 EU like I always did in the past, but with age comes wisdom, and I had her ride like a queen out to the "estate." Good thing too, 'cause the first fault to occur when i started her up (for only the second time) was a fuel line spewing petrol all around the hot engine manifolds! Fun stuff! Easy fix.
I went on to do new points, condenser, dizzy cap and rotor, plugs and cables, coil, and all filters (plus fresh oil). I did a temporary botch patch of some minor rust on the rear suspension - no where near the kind of rot you all get in the UK - which I will fix proper when I get the ambition to pull the gas tank, do the rear brakes, and pack the rear bearings. I also riveted some galvanized sheet on the driver's side floor, she being something of a Flintstones car.
Subsequently, I took some good enamel paint and brushed her two-tone, white below, tan above, white roof. It comes out pretty well with good paint and 30 years experience with a brush (I'm an Artist by profession). All tarted-up, I took her to MOT and she passed first time. I get the sense it is not too tough to pass MOT in the countryside of Portugal.
We then took her a few times into Lisbon (40km) and the last time we got stuck on a hot day in a torturous up-hill crawl to the toll-booth at the bridge. Gisella was NOT pleased. Subsequently, her performance continued to degrade to the point where no amount of fiddling with point gap, fuel screw, or idle screw had any consistent effect. We also experienced growing gassy smells from the engine, this time not related to a leaky fuel hose, and she was making throaty, coughy, noises around the carb.
I finally remembered (thanks to the forum) to check the vacuum advance, and sure enough, it didn't suck, which totally sucks if you have a Femsa 'cause you can't get a new one. Again thanks to the forum, I did the botch fix for Femsa advances, and so far it seems to do the trick! I can finally adjust to a lean mix (1 1/2 turns from closed, thanks again forum) with a good consistent idle (though i reckon i put it a tiny bit higher in the rpms).
For the vacuum botch fix, i took a triangle file, and filed a V on the outside of the metal band at one place, till i hit plastic. Then I just "gnawed" at it with wire cutters, not really snipping it, more just working at the soft spots. This way, I was able to open the unit with the ring mostly intact, and no damage to the plastic. I cut my inner-tube diaphragm, poking a small hole in the center, and stretching it around the piston washers, making a nice tight fit, without having to mess with the piston. I then used super-glue and some weights to fully seal the rubber to the piston washers. I put a generous amount of super-glue around the chamber halves and outer edge of the rubber, snapped the ring back on, and gently, in a circular manner, compressed the ring around the two halves. Of course, I kinda botched my botch, and the piston was a tiny bit rotated. That's the fault of the super-glue, you get one shot at it, no repositioning. We shall see if super-glue is the thing, if it is durable enough, or if it looses the air seal. Fortunately, I feel I could re-do my botch even better the next time, and for now it seems okay.
After this, she was much improved, though still a little cranky at bottom-of-gear acceleration - kinda hesitant, then jumpy. I was reluctant to adjust the dizzy as my strobe and tach/dwell meter are still back in The States (I will go in September and bring them here), but if this car is for me, I have to be able to do it by ear/feel and get it all pretty close, and perhaps better, than with instruments - just like I could with my old VWs.
The dizzy-mount already had a clear marking grove, and indeed its matching grove on the dizzy was set a few degrees advanced. So first I rolled it back so the grooves aligned, and took it for a spin, just to see. It was worse. so I advanced it a few degrees beyond where it was initially set, and low-and-behold! She is purring quieter and smoother than ever, and I have no problem spinning my tires on gravel. She accelerates smoothly with a gentle gas pedal, or a firm. Well, as smooth as my old VW's ever did.
Some things I noted along the way:
The old plugs were gaped to the widest point in spec. I set them right in the middle.
The old dizzy points were also set to the widest point in spec. I reckon I have them now at 0.45 - I can push a 0.5 feeler in the gap, but it seems to expand, and the 0.4 goes in easy with barely the feel of a grip. I don't have a 0.45 feeler.
I wonder if I opened the plugs and points again, would I be able to retard the dizzy to it's original position? Probably. Or maybe not at all - the relationship is the opposite? I guess this is my first Q to the forum.
No matter, I'll have my old strobe and tach/dwell in a few weeks and we'll see if I still got the feel. I'm totally thrilled to be monkey-wrenching again, it had been far too long (20 years), and I am quite sure the R4 is a fine, modern upgrade from my old air-cooled klackers.
Pleased to make all of your acquaintances!
John Klima
I'm a newbie R4 owner (1988 GTL - "Gisella")! Originally from the USA I now live in Lisbon, Portugal. Last year, my wife and I started to sort of "squat" a derelict farm in Maca, about an hour away from Lisbon, that she and her gigantic extended family (really more of a clan) jointly own, and completely disagree about (that's another story). Not having owned a car for years (coming from NYC to Lisbon), it soon became obvious that the taxi-to-bus-to-taxi is a bit problematic for farm life, especially when you want to haul a load of lumber or angle iron.
Having in the 1980's driven several VWs of late 60's era (i would buy for a couple hundred bucks, the type-3 square/fastback being my favorite, but had buses and beetles too), I thought to seek a beater and fix her up like I always did. Well, no VW beaters for a couple hundred, not by a long shot! I could kill myself for giving "Pearl," my cherry, totally original type-3 to my ex-girlfriend, ummm, 20 years ago.
So I decided to buy a "new" car, and Gisella was the obvious choice (In '88 I owned a '68, so to me an '88 is new
I have had her for two months, legal for one. I love her, she is sweet, noisy, and cranky all at the same time, just like my wife. She's funny to look at, there are quite a few of her sisters on the road here, and it's fun to wave at fellow motorists when passing by. In other words, she is "culty" like the VW.
Running reasonably well (seeing that she "sat-up" for several years), with a clean engine, she cost me 550 EU delivered on a lorry, 80km to the farm. I had contemplated driving the 80km illegal and saving 150 EU like I always did in the past, but with age comes wisdom, and I had her ride like a queen out to the "estate." Good thing too, 'cause the first fault to occur when i started her up (for only the second time) was a fuel line spewing petrol all around the hot engine manifolds! Fun stuff! Easy fix.
I went on to do new points, condenser, dizzy cap and rotor, plugs and cables, coil, and all filters (plus fresh oil). I did a temporary botch patch of some minor rust on the rear suspension - no where near the kind of rot you all get in the UK - which I will fix proper when I get the ambition to pull the gas tank, do the rear brakes, and pack the rear bearings. I also riveted some galvanized sheet on the driver's side floor, she being something of a Flintstones car.
Subsequently, I took some good enamel paint and brushed her two-tone, white below, tan above, white roof. It comes out pretty well with good paint and 30 years experience with a brush (I'm an Artist by profession). All tarted-up, I took her to MOT and she passed first time. I get the sense it is not too tough to pass MOT in the countryside of Portugal.
We then took her a few times into Lisbon (40km) and the last time we got stuck on a hot day in a torturous up-hill crawl to the toll-booth at the bridge. Gisella was NOT pleased. Subsequently, her performance continued to degrade to the point where no amount of fiddling with point gap, fuel screw, or idle screw had any consistent effect. We also experienced growing gassy smells from the engine, this time not related to a leaky fuel hose, and she was making throaty, coughy, noises around the carb.
I finally remembered (thanks to the forum) to check the vacuum advance, and sure enough, it didn't suck, which totally sucks if you have a Femsa 'cause you can't get a new one. Again thanks to the forum, I did the botch fix for Femsa advances, and so far it seems to do the trick! I can finally adjust to a lean mix (1 1/2 turns from closed, thanks again forum) with a good consistent idle (though i reckon i put it a tiny bit higher in the rpms).
For the vacuum botch fix, i took a triangle file, and filed a V on the outside of the metal band at one place, till i hit plastic. Then I just "gnawed" at it with wire cutters, not really snipping it, more just working at the soft spots. This way, I was able to open the unit with the ring mostly intact, and no damage to the plastic. I cut my inner-tube diaphragm, poking a small hole in the center, and stretching it around the piston washers, making a nice tight fit, without having to mess with the piston. I then used super-glue and some weights to fully seal the rubber to the piston washers. I put a generous amount of super-glue around the chamber halves and outer edge of the rubber, snapped the ring back on, and gently, in a circular manner, compressed the ring around the two halves. Of course, I kinda botched my botch, and the piston was a tiny bit rotated. That's the fault of the super-glue, you get one shot at it, no repositioning. We shall see if super-glue is the thing, if it is durable enough, or if it looses the air seal. Fortunately, I feel I could re-do my botch even better the next time, and for now it seems okay.
After this, she was much improved, though still a little cranky at bottom-of-gear acceleration - kinda hesitant, then jumpy. I was reluctant to adjust the dizzy as my strobe and tach/dwell meter are still back in The States (I will go in September and bring them here), but if this car is for me, I have to be able to do it by ear/feel and get it all pretty close, and perhaps better, than with instruments - just like I could with my old VWs.
The dizzy-mount already had a clear marking grove, and indeed its matching grove on the dizzy was set a few degrees advanced. So first I rolled it back so the grooves aligned, and took it for a spin, just to see. It was worse. so I advanced it a few degrees beyond where it was initially set, and low-and-behold! She is purring quieter and smoother than ever, and I have no problem spinning my tires on gravel
. She accelerates smoothly with a gentle gas pedal, or a firm. Well, as smooth as my old VW's ever did. Some things I noted along the way:
The old plugs were gaped to the widest point in spec. I set them right in the middle.
The old dizzy points were also set to the widest point in spec. I reckon I have them now at 0.45 - I can push a 0.5 feeler in the gap, but it seems to expand, and the 0.4 goes in easy with barely the feel of a grip. I don't have a 0.45 feeler.
I wonder if I opened the plugs and points again, would I be able to retard the dizzy to it's original position? Probably. Or maybe not at all - the relationship is the opposite? I guess this is my first Q to the forum.
No matter, I'll have my old strobe and tach/dwell in a few weeks and we'll see if I still got the feel. I'm totally thrilled to be monkey-wrenching again, it had been far too long (20 years), and I am quite sure the R4 is a fine, modern upgrade from my old air-cooled klackers.
Pleased to make all of your acquaintances!
John Klima
