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>header exhaust. Now it runs about at about 80%, I'd say...the engine only has >42K miles on it (car sat a while before I bought it), has great compression >Basically, if I could get the FI running 100% then I'd stick with it. Since >the >remaining problems involve some surging at idle, and slight surging/lack of >power at speed, I'm thinking I may have a leaky injector. I may consider new >injectors in the future to see if that helps. Sound like a better plan would be to test the injectors to determine whether or not they're actually leaking. If not, you risk spending time and money replacing good parts, and it takes more steps to replace injectors than to test them. Leaky injectors can have symptoms similar to an old, tired voltage regulator, or a leaky cold start injector, or a disconnected intake air temperature sensor. >- How difficult is the tuning procedure? Are there any special tools than can >help? A "uni-syn" tool is needed to match the adjustment of the two carbs. >- What do you do with all the breather hoses that lead into the stock air >filter >(from the heads, from the case, etc.)? In this kind of situation, in my experience, people either leave such hoses/fittings 1) open to the air or 2) blocked, with no particular reason either way...(!) >One con I've heard of: > >- The carbs have no choke, so starting the engine in cold conditions (i.e. 0 >degrees F) can be a pain. >- what else? Well-tuned carbs are likely to not have better mileage/power compared to the injection system. Also, the Webers are not fed cool air from the intake plenum. Stock carbs with a stock air cleaner do get this outside air, as does the injection system. >The pros are obvious: > >- Somewhat easier to maintain than FI, and easier to troubleshoot This depends. I don't know squat about Weber carbs, and would find them much, much more difficult to troubleshoot. :) I would maintain that they're considered easier to troubleshoot if you know more about carburetors and less about D-Jetronic fuel injection. The two systems are different, that's all. >- Parts readily available This depends -- for much less than the price of used swap-meet carbs, I've collected many fuel injection spares. Also, many fuel injection parts are indeed available new. People run into the biggest problems when they replace injection parts that aren't really bad, due to guesswork. That sure does get expensive, fast! >- Less to go wrong As with any fuel system, carbs have many failure modes: bad float, crud in the jets, stuck choke, stuck needle valve, manifold leaks, bad E-M cutoff valves, torn/leaky/misadjusted accelerator pump diaphragm. And, with two carbs, you've got twice as many of most of these components! >- Probably better mileage than I'm getting right now (about 22 MPG) You can get poor mileage on a carbed car, too. ;) >- Increased power I don't think so, if you're comparing stock-sized carbs with the stock injection system. >- what else? > >Anyway, I'm eager to hear about people's experiences! Many thanks in advance! When I got my first Squareback, I was terribly frightened the first time I had injection problems, and started to shop for carbs. Guess what? It turned out that the problem was with the ignition system, not with the fuel injection system. The next time I had fuel injection troubles, I started to shop for carbs again... oops! the ignition points, heh. The injection system is not perfect and can have failures, but it's a lot more "different" than it is "better" or "worse" in my opinion. -Greg ------------------------------------------------------------------- Pitch in! Send your pledge of support! mailto:support@vwtype3.org