NO COMMENT !!!!    Zen ,Better take a torque wrench to at least tighten the head nuts behind the rockers.

Ah !  Good,  Can I assume that you are now considering constructing a bracket to mount your lawnmower/elec.pump to the side of  your bug for attempted future ventures out into the real world ?  The whole VW world holds its breath in anticipation of the comimg of this wonderful event and with The Most Rev. Father Zen being present to sprinkle Holy Fuel, There will be Great Rejoicing in the streets of LaFayette and not let us forget the Spirits of the VWs  that have gone before us and have past from our view .:lol:  :lol:

Yep, SC, you're on the right track.  There is pipe that enters the center tunnel on the top of the frame head and runs through the tunnel to the rear of the car and exits through the top of the driver's side frame horn.

There's lots of "stuff" inside that tunnel.  Not only the shifter rod and fuel line in there, there are lots of metal tubes hidden away inside.  Tubes for your clutch cable, accelerator cable, heater and defroster cables and couple of tubes for you emergency brake cables.  When Ferdinand Porsche designed the little critter back in the 1930s, he figured all that stuff would outlast the life of the car so he sealed it up nice and tight and went on with designing the rest of the car.  The only thing he really gave “access” to in there (and you have to be Inspector Gadget to take advantage of the “access”) is the shift rod.  Problem is, he did such a good job with the rest of the car that they have lasted long enough for us to sometime experience “problems” with the pipes and tubes that meant to outlast the car.  The reason you won’t find any instructions replacing your fuel line in a Haynes manual is that if you have the tools, skills and knowledge to replace the fuel line, you’re way past needing the help of the Haynes manual.  I think I’ve heard before that an official VW Shop manual has instructions for cutting into the tunnel and repairing stuff.

If the fuel pipe is leaking, it has to be replaced.  If it’s just stopped up (from the description of the inside of your carburetor, I’ll BET MONEY yours is!) a better option is to clean it out.  You’ll need an old accelerator cable, several spray cans of carb cleaner, an air compressor, and lots of time and patients.  Pull the tank out and start spaying a little cleaner in the pipe, poking at it with the cable and blowing on it with compressed air.  Continue this process for about an hour . . . and repeat it every evening for the next couple of weeks.  When it’s cleaned out, start cleaning on the tank . . . if it’s in the carb and in the fuel pipe, you can bet there’s a big layer of that goo in the bottom of the tank.  I’m lazy.  I just find another tank with no goo in it.  When you reinstall the tank, hook it to the pipe on top of the frame head with BRAND NEW HIGH QUALITY fuel hose.  The good kind with the braided reinforcement stuff on the outside.  It’s metric.  The stuff at AutoZone is a standard size.  It “kind’a” works, but you don’t want something that “kind’a” works holding back 10 gallons of gas.  Don’t ask me why I know this.  Use the same hose at the back of the car.  Make sure you have a grommet in the tin where the fuel line comes into the engine compartment, or better yet, use some lamp parts and high temp. silicone to keep the tin from rubbing through the pipe (directions are in Bob Hoover’s Tulz series . . . there’s a link to them somewhere on the forum.  Read the one about VW fires.)  If you want to run a filter, put it under the tank or where the pipe comes out of the frame horn at the back.  Don’t put it between the fuel pump and carb.

Good point on the braided hose Anthony!  It DOES go bad before it looks bad!   :shock:   I use it, but I do check it often.  I'll squeeze it and bend it around, and remove it and look at the condition of the end of the hose every few months.  If it starts to feel stiff or cracks start showing up in the ends it's GOT TO BE REPLACED . . . Unless you're a pyromaniac!

I was thinking (we're in trouble now!) that the correct size is 5mm for carbs and 7mm for FI . . . could be very wrong.  Whatever size it is, I pick it up at shows for a couple of bucks a foot . . . I try to keep 5 or 6 feet of it on hand at any given time . . . cause like Anthony said, it WILL go bad and still "look" good.  Sometimes I replace mine just cause I can't remember when I changed it last.  I've you had ever looked in the rear view and seen flames you would know why.   :whistle:

SC, I re-read your last post . . . I missed it the first time, (thought you were talking 'bout the fuel hose) but it sounds like the fuel pipe in the tunnel is either missing all together, or broken off somewhere in the tunnel.   #-o  Do you have the gas tank out of it?  If so, is the fuel pipe there at the front of the car?

Update on cleaning out gas line
I have spent 4 hours so far and I have cleaned out about 4 feet of hose.     This equals to about a foot from the front and 3 feet from the engine.   So at about 1 foot and hour,   I have maybe 6 hours of pipe cleaning fun left.   I imagine there is 10 to 100 feet of total pipe.  Please skip over the next sentence of whining.   This is not fun, I hate it,  it smells bad, my fingers hurt,  and  my nails have gunk in the cuticles that won't clean out.  I need a hug.  SC

I was sinking into a deep depression,  I had to do something.  Since the fuel pipe cleaning project is way behind schedule, I had to act fast .   Using all my engineering talents and 6 or 7 Budweisers, I lost count ,  an idea popped or pooped into my brain,   Since running a fuel line thru the car is so troublesome,  Shazaam,,,,    Why can't I run a fuel line over my car?  the rain gutter is a perfect crevas for a fuel line.  I am Invincible, un-stop-able, high ho silver...away.  SC

Yea I can call.. I will have to find someone to help me load it.. LOL. Anyway When do you want me to call ya? Today or Wed?

  Aaron

I have evidence that proves with out a doubt that The Smelly Cat Super Beetle is a 1970 model.  From the door jam,  using the latest in cripo-
ography,  a team of experts found.    11/70  with a bunch of numbers.  Born on date Nov 1970.  put that in your pipe and smoke it Baby.   S/C