[T3] Woo, hoo, hoo, hoo! It Runs Great! (long ramble)

[garram1@swbell.net]

After much struggle and many trips to the parts store I got my 
Squareback running again last night.  I've had this car three years 
and it has never run better than it is running now.  At some point 
one of the previous owners removed the FI and installed Weber ITCs.  
I thought it ran pretty well on the Webers.  Man was I wrong.  
Although I'd rather have had the FI I went with '67 spec Solexes 
because I ran across a pair for a good price (and complete with 
linkage and '67 dizzy).  I rebuilt the carbs about a year and a half 
ago.  When I installed them the leaked like crazy so I reinstalled 
the Webers.  I sent the throttle plates to RIMCO to be rebushed.  
When I got them back they sat on the shelf in the garage until this 
month.  I had a valve seat go bad on cylinder #2.  It sank into the 
head (I guess.  That's what it looks like).  These heads had been 
rebuilt locally.  I still had the original '68 T3 heads so I sent 
them to RIMCO to be reworked.  I got them back 10 days ago.  I've 
been fiddling with it since then.  I finally got it back together 
last night at about 11pm.  It started with a minimal amount of 
cranking.  I did the tuning procedure outlined in "Look, Listen, Do 
It Right".  Thanks to whomever put that little book up on the web.  
It went smoothly.  I still want to run through the procedure a couple 
more times and get it just right.  

The other thing I need to do is reinstall the '68 FI dizzy.  At some 
point someone moved the distributor drive on this engine.  Even 
though I bought the correct tool I cannot get it to come out.  Left 
where it is I can't install the '67 dual carb dizzy because the 
vacuum can hits the fan housing.  I removed the vacuum can on the '68 
so that it will fit.  But even with a 009 the engine runs so much 
better with the Solexes than it ever did with the Webers.  Although 
they're somewhat scarce I'd recommend them to anyone who DOESN'T 
already have FI.  

Finally I'd like to thank everyone on this list, especially Jim, Russ 
and anyone who's posted anything about stock dual carbs in the last 
two years!

Ok, I'm done with my ramble.  I'll go back to lurking.  ;)


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