Joining the crowd

[ob1quixote]

My OE carbs are trashed, many over sized screws and stripped OE screws. Scratched up slides and vacuum pistons. Not a good starting point for a reliable rebuild IMHO. I was very surprised, considering the the very good condition of the '79 survivor with 31K on the odometer.

I pulled the trigger on this set up on eBay. No negatives or neutrals regarding the sales of this item's feedback. I like the design of the manifold, no funky plenum, direct dump to the runners. Will have a look inside for clean construction, have a large array of Dremel tools and bits to clean up any ugliness.



Hurry up shipping company!

While this seems to be a common carb for conversions, I still have concerns about using such a comparatively large carb regarding CFM that it was designed for. Being an auto painter, I do have a good understanding of the atomization of liquids!

To that end, while I install the kit, I will be keeping an eye on the possibility of using another carb with a smaller venturi, designed for a motor closer to the 1000cc displacement while using the manifold from the kit. Love the looks of that glass bowl Holley, but have to do some more research. Looking at a few carbs from various small european cars...but first...
HURRY UP SHIPPING COMPANY!

[Sugs]

Which carb does that kit come with?

[ericheath]

I’ll suggest you search using HOTT‘s‘s name. His first one he used a weber 3236 progressive which lots of people said was too much carb. He seem to have pretty good success with it and a number of others have followed up using his technique which was using a two barrel into one barrel adapter.

In my opinion, which is only based on reading other successes and failures, a two barrel progressive is a good choice because you can run it off that small first barrel and cracked the throttle to get the extra cubic feet per minute. There was quite a few guys over at classic gold wings who have used variations of a 3234 Holly Weber cologne. They seem to have run out of new versions, they were only around $100. Another guy here are used a Hitachi 306DGV Which has only a 20 mm primary barrel Venturi and a 26 mm secondary Venturi. That is the smallest two barrel that I have seen. They were common on early Datsun 1200 models.

It seems as though I have read of more failures than successes of folks who have tried to use Volkswagen one barrel carburetors. But there are some who have made it work. Good luck and share with us what you do.

[ob1quixote]

Yeah, I have my doubts, but I also have friends with a few VWs, so I can find that carb a new home if I dont like it.

Which ever way I go, I want to be able to use my tool tray, which this kit claims it can do. Just finished mounting a cigarette power outlet as well as a USB charge port into the tool tray. Gotta power all those devices that werent invented back then!

Gonna give it a good go, got some technical adjustment procedures so I wont be twisting screws all willy-nilly.

[ob1quixote]

One week since purchase, seller managed to print a shipping label...

[ob1quixote]

Carb came in yesterday, still waiting on the manifold...

[ob1quixote]

When USPS delivered the box with my carburetor, they decided that my porch was not secure enough to deliver the box with the manifold in it. How they came to this decision could be a Twilight Zone plot.

And since they lost the manifold after making the decision not to leave it, maybe the plot could include alien abduction?

Another manifold is on the way...

[ob1quixote]

Got the manifold!

Began installation, only to find that I lost the cable barrel fitting!
My fault, I know it came with one.

Initial impressions... No instructions were enclosed. Had to remove strap/bar that spans the upper-forward faux tank framework for the carb to fit within the space. Once mounted, the tool tray fit quite nicely! Exterior finish on the manifold is a little rough, but since not much is visible, no biggie. Welds are robust. Carb flange is substantial and flat. Throttle cable mount is nice and strong.

Air filter seems a bit small, and does not have an inlet for the crankcase vent. Will be looking for something to be a bit larger in diameter at the same height, and with a hose nipple for the vent on the underside

Have to finish installing the fuel lines, throttle cable modification and wire the power and ground to the choke and fuel stop solenoid. Gonna give it a shot at running as was delivered, go through the proper adjustment procedure, see how it goes.

Have some pilot and main jets on hand if needed.

[ob1quixote]

Got it all put together, and NO SPARK!

ARRRRGH!

[ob1quixote]

Got the magic smoke shoved back in the wires!

Starting my fine tuning, got the idle around 1500-1600rpm,pretty happy with the set up so far.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KT8gsdOdCf0

[ob1quixote]

Tweaking the tune a bit when I get a chance between work duties. Idle is down to 1200-1300 rpm. Sometimes some hesitation/stutter when pulling off from a stop, wants more throttle. But, when it hits about 3800 rpm, it get to ripping! Those Emgo reverse megs make some nice music! Looking to richen up the low end.

Happy enough so far! Gonna check the ignition timing, about the only thing I havent looked at. Just wanna make sure it is spot on.

[ob1quixote]

Well, done all the adjusting I can, and it is a cold hearted set up.
In my testing, some stumble in the 2-3Krpm range, and it runs like a scalded dog above 4Krpm. Idling from cold on the center stand, a short shot with a heat gun smooths everything out.

Manifold heat will be required.

I am going with motorcycle grip heaters. I bought 2 pairs of these.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00 ... UTF8&psc=1

To regulate the power consumption, I plan on using a small computerized thermostat. The 20 amp rated relay should easily handle the load regardless of how I end up wiring it. I can put all four in series, or series by the pair, or all four in parallel, each option will have a different power draw.

https://smile.amazon.com/LM-YN-Thermost ... ay&sr=8-24

Work on insulating the work once done.

Love the way this runs above 4Krpm, but want to get some of the legendary torquey bottom end back!

[ob1quixote]

Installed the grip heaters today, the electronic thermostat will be in tomorrow.

Laid a base of Gorilla tape so the heaters would not be in direct contact with the grounded manifold. Heaters are self adhesive. Insulated the manifold with a foil backed self adhesive rubber duct insulation. Cut pieces to fit, lower first, the top cap, then end cap next to the spark plugs. Used plain aluminum foil tape for extra security.

After a test run on the bench, I'm fairly happy. I will be changing the insulation shroud to include the coolant crossover tube to take advantage of the free heat.

I ended up wiring the grips in full parallel. In testing, series wiring produced next to no heat, and series by the pair only minimal heat.

[Track T 2411]

That's a creative solution for the cold start issue. I hope it works out for you!

[ob1quixote]

Much improved after a road test. I think including the coolant cross-over tube in the insulation shroud will improve it even more. With any luck, the heat from the coolant tube will supply all the heat needed and the grip heaters will cycle off after the motor is hot.