Over the last two weeks Wally the superbeetle has slowly gotten rougher running and harder to keep idling. To the point I have to keep revving the engine up at stops or it sputters and dies.

I’ve changed out the points, condenser, timed it, played with the carb settings. Nothing. So, I started spraying around with brake cleaner (highly flammable) and lo and behold when I sprayed it near the #1 and #3 intake manifold the engine revved up. whoa-la I’ve got a vacuum leak. And it’s a duzie.

I finally pulled the intake manifold off this afternoon fearing a cracked manifold or something. Instead, it’s just the gasket that blew out.

From Wally the Superbeetle

Not sure how it happened but I do know that Permatex gasket sealer won’t work. I cleaned it up and tried, since I don’t have the proper gasket. I thought, temp fix, while the new one ships. Lasted as long as it took to start the bug up. So, tomorrow I ‘m off to try and find some gasket material so I can cut a new one. Fun fun. At least it’s something fairly easy to fix. Once I get the gasket material I’m figuring an hour to tear it apart, cut the new gasket and have it back together. Hopefully it won’t rain tomorrow. We’ve had a solid week of rain and storms. Not the time to be working on a car.