As a lot of you know, my Fastbacks clutch stopped working the other day, well have taken the engine out, and found the problem.
What a job taking out a Type 4 2000lt motor out al by my self, not as young as I used to be, in my youth, I got it out and back in after work, ready for 1st show at the drive-in.
What lead up to this Clutch failure started when I stopped at a stop street, pressed down the clutch, it engage 1st gear, when the pressure on the peddle faded.
The peddle still had a little resistance on it, but would not disengage the clutch.
Thank goodness I could still drive a VW without a clutch, through traffic, Had lots of practice as a poor teenager..
Drove the car home, got under the car, had my son, press the clutch peddle, and had a look at the box, all was working fine, cable intact, arm moving.
There was no noise when it happened, and no noise when starting or driving the car, also no noise when pressing the clutch in.
Forks intact when opened, rod and shaft fully connected and working. Clutch plate and pressure plate fully functional,
Keeping in mind that During the restoration of this Fastback the forks where changed to take the new style thrust bearing, with clips and all. This was done correctly, all worked lekker till.....
What happened, was that the Circlip, holding the shaft in, against the bush, broke, allowing the forks to move off to the side, moving the sleeve just enough to bend the holding clip on the thrust bearing, where it disengaged from its position, bending the 2nd clip, and turning 90 deg.
The fade that I got on the peddle, was most probably the thrust bearing being forced in between the forks.
Amassing how a Penny part can cause a good couple of Ponds of
Well I have removed the fork, fork bushes, and thrust bearing. Cleaned it all up, widened the circlip grooves to take two circlips each, re-lubricated the bushes, and re-assembled the forks, with the thrust bearing, making sure the retaining clips are bent and tensioned correctly.
Well as all luck would have it, nobody around to refit the engine, so once again it me, my self, and I, that put the heavy beast back into place.
Also replaced the beetle starter, with the kombi one I got from Calooker clearance sale, and decided to service the engine at the same time.
Well the draining of the oil, replacing of the oil filter, and replacing of the tappet cover seals went uneventfully, TILL I stuck my finger into the oil.....
The smell of petrol...
So, Not sure if it was the old Solex's that leaked, or the new Webers, I had to take off the air filters, set up the lead light, and switch on the electric fuel pump. Starring into both carb,s told me that the floats were working fine, must have been the Solex's.
But now I am paranoid, I know that most VW carbs leak as they get older, and can set the car on fire, and/or thin the oil to the point of running bearings.
So I Re-set my Accelerator cable, to give it more slack, so it will not activate the carb pump by expansion and vibration, and will also be fitting a Electrical Fuel Shut-off valve in the fuel line.
This valve will be a normally closed valve, and only let fuel through when the ignition is switched on.
Will also run it through my car alarm, so the fuel will cut out when the alarm goes off.
Come to think of it, will be fitting one of these valves into each one of my Aircooled's.
Well thats it for now, hope to run it up to 700 or a 1000Miles, with out more problems, then i can close off this thread correctly.
Herman
All the pleasures in life that you miss..... 
Congrats Herman, glad all went well, it's been great following this progress of this project. Have to agree with Dawie, it is a great feeling going on that first drive, new number plates, disk and all 
