74 super beetle wont idle when cold?

hey everyone first post here

i have a 1974 super beetle that is the california model. it has a 34 pict-4 carb and everything is original. when the motor is cold and the choke valve is closed the thing will not idle until it is warmed up fully. and when it is warmed up it has a some what hard time starting, i have to hold the pedal to the floor to get it to start. it has the original air cleaner which is paper, it has a centrifugal distributor that has no vaccum advance. the motor is new and i know for a fact the valve adjustment is correct as it the ignition timing.

any help would be much apreciated

Is the engine running hot? The warm start issue could be a vaopr lock problem (fuel boiling off in the line/carb). You could have a vaccum leak somewhere as well.

no its not vapor locking, i thought this could have been the issue so i re routed the fuel line to a cooler place. it has an electric fuel pump under the gas tank so the fuel line in the engine compartment is nowhere near anything hot. i also watched the inside of the carb for a while after shutdown and its not "percolating" nothing was bubbling out. the boots on the intake pipes are new so i know their not leaking. the problem was much worst before i replaced the float in the carb.

i also tried using a 34 pict-3 carb and it hot started no problem ut good lord it would nt idle no matter what

check your points make sure they are not closed and set correctly and make sure your car does not have a total advance of more than 28 at around 3,000rpm also make sure your dizzy is advancing during rpm changes. if your manifold is cold check to make sure your manifold preheaters are clear and not blocked with carbon. also check idle cutoff on the side of carb to make sure its working correctly also.

manifold heaters? as far as i know it has nothing of the sort. and it runs fine at high rpms so wouldnt the timing affect that too?

Yes timing will affect many things but if it won't idle you must fix that problem first can you post a few pics of motor for a better visability of what ya got. Idle prob could be closed points,cloged carb jet, or vacuum leak .

ok ill post pics asap i rebuilt the carb and it runs much better but still wont idle when cold, i have to goose it until it gets warm

Do you have any play in throttle shaft sometimes they get worn out to a point they cause a small vac leak

no the shaft is nice and tight. this all started after it sat for a couple years because before it sat it ran fine.

What ya running for a dizzy does it have new points and cond.ect I would check idle jet again and make sure its clean and file top of manifold to true it up flat and get rid of the high spots to make a better seal

Also if your engine was stored up you might want to add 7cc of marvel mystery oil in the oil and add too your gas also you might have a stuck valveor ring causiing low compression

hey thanks for all the help and its seems i might be close to solving this issue. i took the choke coil off and the spring was in front of the pin instead of hoked behind it like it should be. i fixed this and now its much better. i also found some info on how to adjust the choke and now it starts easy when its cold and hot however it still is hard to idle when its cold, but i think with some more adjustment it might be a problem solved... i hope

Just for grins; http://www.vw-resource.com/34pict3.html

You may already have that info, but it is helpful anyway.

For the poor idle when cold, I think you need to look into what type4rev was saying above, clogged heat riser tubes. These are the small pipes connected to the center section of your manifold. They get clogged with carbon and block warm air from reaching the carb and can cause carb icing. After it has ran for a few minutes, do you notice any icing just under the carb?

Here's a link to different methods of cleaning out these pipes. This is for single port manifolds, but the method is the same if you have a dual port.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=519802