Same ol' issue

So a long weekend with a lot of work but little progress however, I got what I believe is a good diagnosis for that is happening. I started out having an issue with the bug staying running....It would start but not run at idle. I did a lot of google fu trying to find the answers. The first thing I did was to make sure that I was getting spark. I used a test light connected to the negative side of the coil then I grounded the test light and rotated the engine to where the rotor would open the points and cause the test light to turn on. as shown in this You Tube video. Testing for spark

The next thing after this was to make sure that I had the Carburetor adjusted correctly. Since I had already rebuilt it I knew that there was nothing in the jets, and that the bowl and floats were working well. I also had just replaced the fuel filter and I had drained the old gas and put new 5 gallons in it. Then I reset the carburetor to ensure that it was at least initially set with the correct idle screw adjustment and the correct fuel air mixture set. Which by the way was very hard to find what the "stock setting of a 30 pict-2 Solex Carburetor fuel air mixture" is. It should be tighten fully, but don't over tighten the fuel air mixture screw then back it out about 2 and 1/2 turns. I found that information here,  Stock Fuel Air Mixture setting, the next thing I did was look at this You Tube video to learn a little more about adjusting the settings as needed. Original VW carburetor training film

After this I cranked the engine and I found the following thing when I was able to start the engine as long as I had the RPM's at about 1200-1500 the engine stayed running.....yes very high it should be about 850 RPMs. Which I am still guessing at how high my RPMs are so I did buy a digital Tachometer and I will be testing that shortly so I can correctly set my idle screw.

However by keeping the motor running I was able to find out that if I moved this lever......shown in the picture below as #5....I don't know what it is called.....

If I moved this lever it would open and close the "Choke Butterfly".  

Which when I moved it to close it the engine ran better....SO cutting off air intake caused it to run better. WHICH is a great symptom of a vacuum leak. So I found this article from Samba. Samba Forum Link the post on Sun Aug 14, 2011 11:58 am  is the post that I found that made me check the mount for the carburetor which turned up a leak. So I found this You tube video.  For the record I don't recommend using a hammer on your fuel intake mount....but if it is that badly bent and you are careful it can be an option as opposed to filing so much. If you do file or sand or do anything make sure you plug the intake when the carb is removed. Once I pulled the carb and leveled the carb intake mount I had no vacuum leak. 

The problem is this still didn't fix the run at idle problem. SO I moved on to the fuel pump and here is what I found. Check Fuel Pump. I used two videos here to help me out. The first to check to see if I was getting fuel into the fuel lines...BUT the important one was this one Vw Fuel Pump problem at 3:16 into the video was the aha point. This is when the discussion started talking about the seals going bad in the fuel pump and fuel leaking down into the crankcase and oil sump. The way to test this was to smell the oil check dip stick and if it smelled badly of fuel then you would know that the seals had gone bad. 

This was a real AHA moment for me. I realized that I am getting spark, I have a clean carburetor, I have the timing set right and it runs OK, if I hold the throttle open to 1200-1500 RPM. Basically all these symptoms combined led me to the realization that "I'm getting fuel but not enough at lower RPMs to keep the motor running". 

This was probably the longest way to find out I need to replace my fuel pump. I have ordered a new fuel pump and all the corresponding gaskets, pump drive shaft and mounting block and once replaced I am hoping that it will run as expected.