engine and drivetrain Weber 32 36 conversion

[trumanwoll]

'73 2002, original bone stock, emissions plumbing/harness removed.

In reading the posts on this topic I may just leave the poor performing Solex in place. Have in-hand a new Weber and upgraded manifold. Came with water choke installed and electric as alternate.

Issue: Crank case vent. Probably run a hose down the firewall to the street. There is no carb inlet aft of the filter. Some talk about a breather and or catch can. Either way the gases are not going to get burned with this carb. Breather puts the fumes in the engine bay, catch can fills and spills anyway and the gases are still in the bay.

Choke: Leave as a water choke or convert to electric? Found a video but chances of 100% success to convert are low. Requires lots of technical ability over seat 'o pants, blind luck. May leave it water...if that doesn't screw with heater (cooling) flow. Very small nipples on water choke. If conversion to electric choke can I come off the coil with a positive lead or better to tap from fuse box and run a fused line to the choke?

Pros and cons of either: One fellow says the electric choke stumbles until warm but is a cleaner looking set-up and water flow is not affected. Almost wish I ordered manual choke-then you know what you have.

Fuel: Does one need to run a fuel pressure regulator? I have a by-pass valve which sends excess fuel back to tank. Does that stay or does one one connect with direct line and no overflow? Is the stock fuel pump more than the 3.5lb pressure that this carb can handle? I figured the by-pass valve is the correct approach.

Very much at a loss on if I should proceed. There is nobody around here that has done one. Thanks in advance.

[c.d.iesel]

stock mechanical fuel pump is man-enough for the job

[Stevenc22]

I did my 32/36 recently. I'm running a water choke which seems to work great. Throw a breather on the crank case vent, when driving the fumes will get blown away anyway.

[Kpeters]

The 32/36 should be a good step up for you. The water choke should work just fine why would you want to go electric?

[Napes]

Both my wife's '76, with a Weber 32/26, and my high compression '75, with a 38/38, have electric chokes and we have absolutely no problem whatsoever with them.

I just don't like all the extra plumbing with the water chokes. Puts extra stuff in my way when I'm doing something in that area. But, that's just me.

Bob Napier

[dbmw2002]

All good advice above, heres my bits, Crankcase vent, most of the air flter kits come with plumbing for vent into filter base, clean setup, a open vent will stink up an engine bay, snortin co2 is not an option, electric vs water vs manual, manual is my choice, who would want a glow plug next to a carb full of gasoline? Fuel regulator, heres the big Q? is it a real webber? if so you dont need a regulator, how do you know? Only buy the real McCoy Redline unit, buy it right or buy it twice.

[trumanwoll]

Thanks all for the replies.

I will go with a breather and see if I can position it low enough that fumes won't enter the cabin. I have my doubt's about CO2 contamination but will take steps once I see the discharge.

Yes, it is a real new Redline Weber and this kit comes with a new manifold. Rather than "hog out" mine, which requires tools that I don't have, or walk my current manifold around to different machine shops, the cleanest way was with the new piece.

Fuel pressure was not a huge concern unless the mechanical pump is putting out more than 3.5 lb. Even at that, with the by-pass I would not think it would be a probelm.

Electric versus water choke: The electric install is a lot cleaner looking. I have yet to determine where to get the hot lead, maybe someone could help or advise how to tap into the #11 or 12 fuse or other handy source. I believe it is a fairly low current draw, but I will put in an inline fuse to be safe. I'd have thought that once it expands the current is off, maybe I am crazy, but once it is open and hot it has done its job and turns off, dunno.

My issue with the water choke is that my entire cooling system would be restricted, in my opinion, to the 2x1/4 inch openings on the water choke. While the Redline guy and other posters say no problem, and I believe them, my guru says go with the cleaner install and deal with the few stumbles that the electric choke causes before warm-up. I did not install, on the the advice of the Redline tech, the fuel shut-off solinoid. He said it was not necessary, so I have it if there are overflow issues.

To be sure there was some hesitation to swap chokes because I saw a YouTube video that I thought required extensive rebuild of the carb. Not the case, no "Jesus" pins, just removal of the tiny water jacket and replace with the electric choke assembly, 5 minutes and done.

Thanks again all. If someone has a suggestion on the power source, let me know.

[trumanwoll]

Thanks all for the replies.

I will go with a breather and see if I can position it low enough that fumes won't enter the cabin. I have my doubt's about CO2 contamination but will take steps once I see the discharge.

Yes, it is a real new Redline Weber and this kit comes with a new manifold. Rather than "hog out" mine, which requires tools that I don't have, or walk my current manifold around to different machine shops, the cleanest way was with the new piece.

Fuel pressure was not a huge concern unless the mechanical pump is putting out more than 3.5 lb. Even at that, with the by-pass I would not think it would be a probelm.

Electric versus water choke: The electric install is a lot cleaner looking. I have yet to determine where to get the hot lead, maybe someone could help or advise how to tap into the #11 or 12 fuse or other handy source. I believe it is a fairly low current draw, but I will put in an inline fuse to be safe. I'd have thought that once it expands the current is off, maybe I am crazy, but once it is open and hot it has done its job and turns off, dunno.

My issue with the water choke is that my entire cooling system would be restricted, in my opinion, to the 2x1/4 inch openings on the water choke. While the Redline guy and other posters say no problem, and I believe them, my guru says go with the cleaner install and deal with the few stumbles that the electric choke causes before warm-up. I did not install, on the the advice of the Redline tech, the fuel shut-off solinoid. He said it was not necessary, so I have it if there are overflow issues.

To be sure there was some hesitation to swap chokes because I saw a YouTube video that I thought required extensive rebuild of the carb. Not the case, no "Jesus" pins, just removal of the tiny water jacket and replace with the electric choke assembly, 5 minutes and done.

Thanks again all. If someone has a suggestion on the power source, let me know.

[roadhog0]

Water choke doesnt cause a restriction. It runs in parallel to the rest of the cooling system not in series. I run water choke and have no issues with it at all. It's been on the car since it was in Germany!

[trumanwoll]

Studied the air filter portion a little better and found a port that will allow me to vent the valve cover gases into the carb. It will take a minimum of fitting it to work. I believe I can cap off the fuel system vapor recovery hose and instead hook the vent in its place.

I am comfortable with an electric choke and feel that I can power it from the coil, although some may disagree. If this were a high performance track car and one wanted to max things, I could see where a small current draw might matter. If there is a problem that I notice I have other options to power it. I will put a fuse in line. I do not regard the set up as a glow plug. To late to order the manual choke.

Thanks all for the help.

[Rohan Seepersaud]

hello

I just bought the same carb, i want to keep the water choke, where do i get the water source from and on the carb which is the inlet and out let , guess top is IN and bottom is OUT? can any one confirm?

[Simeon]

What size hose nipples does your carb have?

 

Mine is a bit different to others that I have seen and is fed with maybe a 12 or 13mm ID hose from the water divider coming from the head, through the carb and then back into the hose nipple in the middle of the manifold.

 

Others seem to have a take off from the top rearmost corner of the cylinder block on that side of the engine and then back into the manifold via another nipple underneath the carb on the back face of the manifold. This uses a fitting on the carb with smaller diameter nipples. This is also the way that the factory ran the hoses for the water choke on the twin choke Solex. 

 

I don’t think it matters in detail which hose goes on which nipple on the carb fitting. Convention for plumbing might put the hot water supply at the bottom as the heat will encourage the water to circulate upwards and out the other. The reality is that there will be so little difference in temperature between the two it probably wouldn’t make any difference. 

[trumanwoll]

SORRY, GONE NOW.