Hello James. First I'd like to thank all of you for your help and advice. My last problem appears not to have been a problem. I took it out for a road test and it runs both smooth and fast. It accelerates much faster than before and the slow engine deceleration got quicker with use! Maybe the carb linkages need cleaning as you suggest. I'll get around to that. So thanks chaps. Please buy yourselves a beer on me. If you lived next door I'd buy you all a barrel each.
Just one teeny weeny thing though.
I started the business on the head because the the vehicle was losing water. About a cupful every five hundred miles or so. No big deal. But it still does. It definitely is not leaking externally. Believe me I've checked over and over including inside the car. Somehow it's getting into the pots which is born out by the fact that after startup it spits water out of the exhaust. It did that both summer and winter so it's not condensation. After I took the head off I noticed one of the exhaust valve outlets had a white deposit in it. Aha! I thought calcium from the water and although I found no failure of the gasket (and I looked at it under a magnifying glass). I did discover the warped head. And that's where this all started. So I guess there must be an invisible crack somewhere but I'll just have to live with it.
So there you go Dave. My Gold medal.
Jim the Pierburg 2E2 was fitted up to December 1985 over here. There is lots of info on the net about it. Like you I'm a VW fan. I've only owned two cars since 1977. This one and another VW. I'm getting on a bit now and I dont intend buying any more cars but if ever I do it will be another VW not the only reason being because they still use five bearing cranks (I hope they still do anyway).
Cheers Roger
Jim Behn>One challenge is US based VW fans may have never seen the carb you