<VV> 1963 turbo - No boost

[Robert Hawley]

Howdy All, My 1963 Spyder convertible with 24,000 original miles on it has been at Ken Hand's shop getting a rehab and is nearly ready except for one issue: drivability. Grant rebuilt the original YH carb last year.  Ken has replaced and had Jet-coated all of the in/outlet Turbo pipes with the 1964 versions for better sealing, replaced the exhaust crossover, sealed the entire exhaust system, rebuilt the Turbo, installed a Pertronix 1 and done general rehab on all of the engine vitals.  Ken says that the car exhibits good compression consistent with an engine of this mileage.  The car has the original distributor and the pressure retard seems to function properly.  The car has new Spark plugs, Seth's wires, is properly grounded, starter and generator rebuilt and it starts and runs/idles well. 

The car has the original (as far as I know) fuel pump on it with a pressure regulator (set at 3.5 #) as there is no return fuel line on this early 1963 model.  The rubber gas line connector over the rear wheel well has been replaced as has the rubber line at the tank and the fuel sender in the tank.

 

The only issue is that there is no boost.  This was the same complaint I had when I took the car to him before all the work was done and it is still not resolved.  The car revs fine until about 32-3500 RPM and then it "hits a wall" and will slowly rev more but won't boost and the acceleration flattens out.  Once up to speed, it runs well at 70 MPH (3500 RPM).

 

 Ken has experimented with changing the fuel pressure regulator with no affect, but has not been able to get it on the road due to Michigan's fickle weather and subsequent road salting.  He thinks that it may be carburetion, misaligned accelerator linkage or possibly weak valve springs. Could the vacuum idle pull off mounted on the chrome turbo crossover (that retards the linkage/revs between shifts) be part of the problem?   



While I do trust Ken to have the experience to solve this problem, I would like to poll the collective knowledge base on the VV board for any ideas that might help to resolve this issue. The car is in Pontiac, MI and I am in Kalamazoo and it is nearly time to put the top down and go cruisin'.

Thanks to all in advance for your ideas, Robert Hawley (CORSA and West Michigan Corvair Club member)