Dismantleing a VW Starter motor

23rd Feb 2012

My starter motor had been sourced from Volkszone and seemed to be taking some considerable time to reach me due in some part to the snow and late posting.

I decided that I would remove the old starter and see if the damage was repairable . The starter motor is fastened by only two bolts top and bottom the top goes right through the engine casing whist the bottom is a short stud. It is very important not to loose the top bolt as it has an unusual D shape end.


The starter motor can be took part very easily. The end cover is secured by two small screws . This covers the main shaft which is held in place by a U shape washer and several shims. The Shims are very important as they set the amount of float on the starter motor. Once these have been removed the two larger bolts can be removed allowing the outer casing to be withdrawn from the main shaft. The four carbon brushes could then be inspected in the starter motor cover. Mine was in very good shape and I knew this could not be the problem . I turned my attention to the main shaft and the copper windings and the contact areas on the commutator . It is noticeable on my copper windings that one of the copper windings is broken and does not make contact with the starter motor. I had found the reason for the motor failure. Several days past before my replacement starter motor eventually turned up . The package was split open and the delivery agent for Parcel Force stated it was not suitably wrapped. However the item had not suffered any damage and power up from a battery and starter cables quite successfully.


The starter motor was painted but appeared to be rusting underneath the paint. I decided to clean the starter motor down with and electric Wire brush. The paint and rust stripped back quite easily leaving a smooth bare metal appearance . I painted the Starter motor and refitted my old solenoid to the side as I knew my solenoid was newer. I tested the starter motor again and it all functioned correctly.

My starter motor windings had failed and I knew I should replace the starter bush before replacing the starter on the car.

Jetting Delorto DRLA 40 Twin Carburettors

3rd Feb 2012
My 40mm/28mm chokes had turned up from Italy and I was very pleased to see that when they arrived they were in fact the correct parts I had ordered. I had been previously trying to cure the jetting problems of my carburetors where my engine was idling well but had a lack of acceleration that could be resolved by pumping the throttle. I had believed that this was because of the size of my idle and main jets but had been told by both VW Heritage and Dellorto UK that it was more likely that my chokes being 40mm/32mm where the wrong size for my engine and was likely to be the cause of the jetting issues.

To fit the chokes into the DRLA40 carburetors is a fairly straight forward procedure, First the cross bar linkage needs to be removed . This is best achieved by unscrewing one of the ball ends that attach to the carburetor linkage plates. This has the result in making the bar shorter in length and able to be removed. The connecting rods then need to be removed from the carburetors so that it can be pulled out. You can carefully pull the bar out of the way to gain access which is the route took. To change the chokes you need to disassemble both Carburetors, it is usually safer to do this one at a time and rebuild so as not to muddle up parts. The Dellorto DRLA 40 carburetor is built up from the top . This means first the linkage bar plate needed to be removed by the four screws that held it in place. After this has been removed a gasket can be easily removed from the top of the Carburetor to expose the four inlayed bolts that hold the top of the carburetor on. Great care should be excorsied as the top plate holds the gasket and the float assembly . When separating the top from the body of the carburetor ensure that the gasket does not get trapped. It is sometimes easier in tight positions to remove the fuel line first.

With the top removed the DRLA 40 Auxiliary venturi can be removed . These are held in with two screws and a clocking nut at the front and back of the carburetor. Pictured right the screw hole with the top positioned on the carburetor . Once the nut has been loosened a screw driver can be used to undo and remove the bolt once these have been withdrawn the Auxiliary venturi pictured right can be removed. It is important to notice that the Auxilary venturi are handed and have different opposing sides . When re inserting the Auxillary venturi you must ensure the face with the o ring is positioned towards the centre of the carburetor otherwise the acceleration fuel jet will not be able to work correctly. When you have removed the Auxiliary venturi the chokes may be withdrawn from the carburetor twin barrels.


The barrels of the carburettor should look similar to the picture left. You should check the throats of both barrels are clean with a lint cloth. The 40mm/28mm chokes can then be lightly lubricated and placed back in the carburetor one in each barrel with the size stamp facing upper most . Once these have been seated . You can place the Auxiliary venturi back in the to throat above the choke it is important to ensure the rubber o ring on one side of the venturi is facing towards the main jets. With both venturi in place the securing screws can be re inserted and tightened to hold the venturi in place . It can bee seen that if teh screw does not hold the venturi tightly then the venturi is reversed and will need to be removed and fitted correctly with the o ring towards the main jets.The locking nuts can then be placed on the venturi securing screws and tightened. The top of the carburetor can then be refitted ensuring that the gasket is trapped correctly between the two parts. This can be a fiddle as there is a little spring that sits on top of the choke unit that can interfere with the refitting process. Once the top is positioned it can be re bolted back together with the four bolts. The gasket can then be placed back on top and the linkage plate can then be positioned on top with the washers , spring washers and nuts. The Air Cleaner can be re fitted and the other carburetor can then be attended to in the same way.

The linkage kit can be fitted into the linkage plate on one side and the ball joint tightened to remove any play.

Current DRLA 40 jets
Chokes 40mm/28mm Ventri
Main 112
AC 180
Emulsiontube 9164.4
Idle 60
Pumps 35

I was unable to test my new installation as I discovered that my Starter motor had failed.

A New lease of Life

16th January 2011

I returned to the garage today after purchasing a new battery with 420 amps of starting power in an 63 battery format. I had a great deal of problem explaining to the retailer that this was a heavy duty version of the 63 format and was available . He spent quite a wile trying to tell me all the 63 format batteries where only 330 Amp stating current until he found one on his shelves. :-)

My Perseverance was rewarded as i returned to the garage and found that the battery indeed turned the engine over much better. The engine however would still not start and there appeared to be a lack of significant ignition. I removed the distributor cab and looked and the point working with the ignition in first position. The spark was very week and fragmented. I decided that I would need to replace them and managed to purchase a set from my GSF store along with a new condensor . I put this into the distributor and set the points on the square of the distributor shaft too .016". I put the distributor back in the engine and connected up the ignition leads . I noticed my no 2 cylinder spark plug was not tight so places some oil on it and tightened it up. I then ran up the engine:




The most noticeable thing was the engine speed was very high. I would have to look at this another day as my throttle was not returning as it should allowing the engine to idle. I was not sure whether I needed to lengthen the throttle cable unscrew the stops or fit stronger springs.

On the whole I was very pleased with the day as my new battery was much better and the points and condensor had only set me back £6.00.

Next time I would try to get the Idle speed down to a better tick over and see if the buggy still had its acceleration problems that had dogged me last year.

Battery, No reason for not starting

13th January 2012

The troublesome Friday 13th had arrived for some but this year I was given a lovely surprise and thus has become a lucky day for me for different reasons and is certainly one i will be noting in my diary.

Since my new year visit to my garage I had been experiencing problems with my battery not providing enough power to start the car and turn over the engine . I had wondered if this was because of the high compression with the new 1641 Barrels and Pistons. However in these austerity times, needs meant I had to locate a battery from a different source I had not realized although I had bought a higher amps battery that although it was a 60 amp battery it only had 335 amps of starting current( As seen in the picture above.). I was researching higher Capacity batteries and discovered quite by accident that most VW Beetle batteries where rated at 420 amp starting current or even 440amp. This clearly was the problem as I had more resistance due to higher Psi in my heads and a weaker starting capacity.

I rang my local dealer and he told me the Bosh 63 batter was rated at 44 amps with a starting current of 440amps . I would have to buy a different battery to solve this.

I also turned the buggy round in the garage so I could get better access to the engine.

2012 New Year

2nd Jan 2012

I wish to say happy new year to the readers of my blog . Not much activity or time has been spent on the buggy in the last couple of months as the weather has been seasonal and not permitted it. I ventured up to the garage today as the weather was fresh and sunny. I took the dust cover of the car and checked the car over. The fuel pressure was not showing on the dial so I new that the buggy was not going to start today. I hooked the car up to the buggy battery with jump leads and ran my car to ensure the battery had a stable load. Electrics and fuel do not ever seem to like coming through the winter . I turned the ignition over several times until I got the fuel pressure gauge back up to 3 psi . The buggy still would not start. I used some Carburettor cleaner down the throat of the Carburetors and tried again . Eventually the Engine started to fire. However I the engine stopped firing and the battery started to take a beating. With the fuel back up to its pressure I decided to leave the buggy for a day for the fuel to permeate the carburetors and free up the gantries.

I would try again on the next available day.

Engine faltering under acceleration

22nd Nov 2011.

I fitted the electrics to the rear of the buggy using the coiled wire protectors I had purchased . This gave greater protection to the wiring . With the engine rebuilt I still been having problems with acceleration that had been dogging my new engine for some time . I had tried replacing engine parts to solve this but to date had had little success. The problem was still alluding me and several friends could not resolve this problem either. It had been a busy month with other activities so I was unable to spend as much time as I wanted to.

I replaced the fuel pump with a new fuel pump regulator and pressure gauge in an attempt to see if there was a fueling issue that was preventing fuel reaching the twin carburetors. The fuel pressure was correct and providing 2.5-3 psi on the gauge. I pressure tested the heads and they all came out the same over 980 lbs on each cylinder suggesting I had good compression.

I tried swapping the distributor to see if my 009 distributor was failing this did not improve the situation.

I know I am running 32 Venturi in my DRLA carburetors and am now wondering whether my poor running is because of this ? I rang VW Heratige who told me that the 32 Venturi where better suited to a larger engine they suggested running 30's. I would have to see if I could locate some replacement Venturi/ Chokes to see if this was the fault.

** Photo of Dellorto DRLA 40 Venturi/ Choke provided by courtesy of www.Dellorto.com