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1 bbl solex fuel inlet fail


ebeaupre

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I was cruising around in my 71 daily and smelled fuel, a moment later I lost power and pulled over. Popped the hood and saw the fuel line to the carb dangling in free space with the short carb inlet tube still firmly clamped in place. The quick fix was to shove it back into its hole and secure it with a wrap of canvas scavenged from a reusable grocery sack I had in the trunk (thanks CA!) It got me home.

 

What's the long term fix? Was this simply pressed in from the factory? It doesn't appear to be fractured. I'd like to braze it but I'm afraid I might warp the housing. JB Weld?

 

-eric

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Eric, Yes they are a compression fit.

Remove the rubber line, tap it back in with a smear of fuel safe sealant - JB weld or Permatex® MotoSeal® Ultimate Gasket Maker Grey.

You can even do a few taps on a centre punch around the edge of the inlet tube to deform the edge a bit and ensure its good & tight. Then add some more sealant around the edge.

You are lucky the M10 is a crossflow head, if the exhaust and inlet were on the same side you would have had a fire for sure. 

 

HTH Beaner7102

1971 - 2002 RHD VIN 1653940. Agave (stock with Pertronix & 32/36 Weber) - "Cactus"

1972 - 1602 RHD VIN 1554408. Fjord (with 2L motor, 5spd & LSD - Weber 40/40 to come) - "Bluey"

1984 - E30 318i VIN WBAAK320208722176 - stock daily driver

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As Beaner pointed out, that coulda been a messy fire--that happened to a friend's Renault when the fuel pump squirted gas on the exhaust manifold after the same failure, and happened to my Renault when it was the outlet nipple on the fuel pump that pulled out--and squirted gas onto the distributor.  

 

Another way to help keep that brass inlet nipple in place:  take a tapered punch, insert it into the nipple's end that will be reinserted into the carb body and gently tap the punch with a hammer.  This will slightly bell the brass tube to give a tighter fit.  Then--again gently--tap it back into the carb body with a brass or lead hammer.  

 

You should be able to tap it in place without a lot of hard banging--you don't want to split the carb's pot metal!  If it just won't go back in, file the belled end until you can get it started, then tap it in place. As was pointed out, a little Locitite and even staking it won't hurt either.   

 

One of the joys of owning a 44 year old car!

 

mike

'69 Nevada sunroof-Wolfgang-bought new
'73 Sahara sunroof-Ludwig-since '78
'91 Brillantrot 318is sunroof-Georg Friederich 
Fiat Topolini (Benito & Luigi), Renault 4CVs (Anatole, Lucky Pierre, Brigette) & Kermit, the Bugeye Sprite

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this was a common problem on old VW's, a lot of people would (also) safety wire, the hose clamp to the carb. i learned this after a small fire in the engine compartment of my 71 bus.

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Thanks for the replies guys. I think I shall try and expand the tube a bit and tap it back in with some appropriate Loctite. I'm quite grateful that I didn't go up in smoke. Give it to the Germans for intelligent engineering.

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Had the same thing happen to me a couple of years ago. I managed to ovalize the fitting slightly with the water pump pliers in the factory tool roll, tapped the fitting back in with the same pliers, hooked the fuel line back up and was on my way after a few minutes to let all the gasoline evaporate. That reminds me--I should check that it's still sitting in there securely...  :rolleyes:

 

-Dave

Colorado '71 2002

'17 VW GTI Sport
'10 Honda Odyssey Family & Stuff Hauler

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My car came with a Weber, but I like the little Solex on my VW.

Beautiful little German castings.

They just get tired and need a little cleaning, tweaking, jetting, re-bushing and loving, just like any other carburetor.

Don't be bashing original equipment!   ;)

Stock Rocks!

     DISCLAIMER -- I now disagree with much of the timing advice I have given in the past.  I misinterpreted the distributor curves in the Blue Book as timing maps for our engines.  I've also switched from using ported-vacuum to manifold, with better results.  I apologize for spreading misinformation. 

(3-28-2024)  

 

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Solex=FAIL

 

No, that may be largely true for the 2-barrel Solex carbs on the later '02s, but the single-barrel models on the early roundies were an entirely different animal. Very reliable, very gutsy in their simplicity. The 32/36 Weber does have the advantage of more power and better fuel economy when not dipping into the second barrel, so I understand the siren song of up-carbing. I've debated going with something else on several occasions, but I just can't bring myself to unbolt that old workhorse--too few people still running them. 

 

Now, if I'd had a 2-barrel Solex on there, I'd probably already have a Lynx and Weber 45. 

 

-Dave

Edited by dlhoovler

Colorado '71 2002

'17 VW GTI Sport
'10 Honda Odyssey Family & Stuff Hauler

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My car came with a Weber, but I like the little Solex on my VW.

Beautiful little German castings.

They just get tired and need a little cleaning, tweaking, jetting, re-bushing and loving, just like any other carburetor.

Don't be bashing original equipment!   ;)

Stock Rocks!

Solex were French. Bash away.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solex

rtheriaque wrote:

Carbs: They're necessary and barely controlled fuel leaks that sometimes match the air passing through them.

My build blog:http://www.bmw2002faq.com/blog/163-simeons-blog/

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That's news to me !

Wouldn't these still be 'German castings', if that was where they were made?

 

010.jpg

 

     DISCLAIMER -- I now disagree with much of the timing advice I have given in the past.  I misinterpreted the distributor curves in the Blue Book as timing maps for our engines.  I've also switched from using ported-vacuum to manifold, with better results.  I apologize for spreading misinformation. 

(3-28-2024)  

 

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If you really want to keep that Solex, Mike is correct when refitting the brass inlet tube. I must have done that to dozens of 34 PICT-3 VW carbs back in the day. Tap gently my friend!

Edited by thevilla

1969 2002 Colorado

1970 2002 Agave

1974 2002 sold back in the 80's

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