Totally hypothetical question about our engine
 

What would happen if one were to install a Weber carb instead of the intake manifold, raised compression to 11:1, installed a stroker kit, changed out the cams for more lift, and kept the stock ignition system?

How hard would it be to get it to run?, will it run?, what kinda power can be expected? Would it not be cool if stuffed into a Westfield?

sounds like a question for clubroadster.net

A weber carb (I assume you're talking about the DCOE) would make life more complicated than it needs to be, specially if you have no experience tuning one. It is all too easy to end up with a car that has worse power AND gas mileage than a fuel-injected version of the same engine. Ask me, I spent most of my youth tuning webers and similar monstrosities. With a wideband (which I didnt have at the time), I imagine it could be a lot simpler though.

But the bigger question is, why webers? Why not a proper IR setup if the "feel" of a weber is all you're after?

I just said Weber, instead of Carb. It could just as well be a Edelbrock or similar.

why would you want a carb at all is my question. it is worse in every way imaginable.

For the retro-ness.

Its hard to explain, but carbs give engines a different character then fuel injection. Not everything is about power.

Totally hypothetical stuff, I just want to hear how the engine will act and perform differently. Since this would go into a westfield which is an old british roadster it should feel like one.

1. Said person would be insta-banned.
2. Who cares.
3. Who cares.
4. Less.
5. Yes, it would not be cool stuffed into a Westfield.

I have your dream car. Read: 86' Isuzu Trooper II with a WEBER CONVERSION!!!!!!11!11 Only 225,000 miles on the body. Carb is less than 1 year old! (though the accelerator pump diaphragm blew out so it drips gas all the time, and the idle circuit is dirty again). It runs fair! Well it's cooling off so it needs the idle circuit richened up a bit after you clean it out. Oh and seeing how it's mechanical secondary power sucks below 2500 if you floor it. But hey it sound cool and that's ALL that matters.

Anyways I'll trade you it for your miata.

1) It will not cold start if the weather is 20F cooler than when you tuned the idle and off-idle circuits.

2) It will buck and spit raw fuel out the intakes (how COOL is that??) if you dont warm it up for exactly 2 minutes in warm weather before driving. 5 minutes in michigan-type weather, if it starts at all.

3) You will need to invest in a good set of jumper cables for obvious reason.

4) You will get exactly 15 mpg with the combo you described on a 45 DCOE.

Retro enough?

Hehehe.

Indeed, sidedraft conversions have been done, both Weber and Dellorto. I can recall seeing a few posted at CR, at M.net, and I think I even saw one here.

Obviously, there are a lot of engines out in the world running such setups, and it's not like installing a pair of Webers is going to immediately give you polio and herpes and cause you to forget how to pronounce the word "asparagus."

On the other hand, the pipefather speaks truthfully. Back when I was into air-cooled VWs, a pair of Weber IDFs (usually 40 or 44mm) was considered "The" fueling solution to have. And while, with a pair of well designed heads, they could indeed produce some serious power, they were in the grand scheme of things quite rotten to live with.

Tuning and synchronizing four independant carbeurators is indeed a pain in the ass, and the IDFs (which are virtually identical to the DCOEs) do not like it when the weather changes. So basically, you wind up running over-rich all the time, to accommodate the worst-case scenario. Additionally, they have no chokes, so cold-starting is difficult, and you have to let them warm up for quite a while before you can really think about driving.

I'll agree that for a Westie, there is a certain retro charm to a sidedraft system. Install an IRTB setup. Even us dumb ole' airheads finally learned that fuel injection can be out friend. CB Performance (one of the Big Names in air-cooled VW performance) sells a kit based on throttle bodies that are essentially a clone of the Weber 48IDA body, but without the internals. If you want to really be cool, buy a set of these and mount them injector side down: http://cbperformance.com/catalog.asp?ProductID=412

http://cbperformance.com/catalogimages/7098.jpg

It would be very similar to a E-Production motor.

I believe there was a miata of the month on miata.net a while back that had the car conversion. I would check that and then see if you could get in contact with the guy who did it.

Thanks for the info. All this stuff is purely hypothetical, just for my education.

If I ever get a westfield, which I really want and am considering in the long term, I would probably keep the engine the way it is.

this thread is really really REALLY gay