bastard!
If you’re not interested in hearing about attempting a carburetor swap at a campsite, please skip until tomorrow’s post…
Okay, so our 3.5 year old dual-Kadrons have been slowing disintegrating and it was time to upgrade. A trusted friend (still is) recommended the ‘baby’ ICT dual-Webers, so I bought the kit over the internet when we were back in the US. As mentioned earlier, we barely got them into Argentina, so that probably wasn’t a good omen.
Now that we’ve decided to settle in at Piriopolis for a little bit, I figured it was time to dig in.First, the good news. I checked my compression for the first time since Santiago (not wanting to know) at it was 120-140-110-120. Not sure what’s up with the 140, but I’m otherwise a happy camper.
I pulled out the old Kadrons, moved the coil to behind the fuel pump using the included mount, then attempted to bolt on the manifolds. First problem.
It turns out the manifolds are either designed poorly, or they were cast in an old mold, because it is literally impossible to get a tool on the bolts to tighten them up. I managed to get on 2, wrenching 10 degrees at at time, but that was it. Huge pain in the ass. It was clear that they had cleaned up the casting on a grinder, but the guy doing that job seemed more worried about appearance than the ability to bolt the things on. I attempted to use one of Angela’s nail files to cut it down, but there was just no way.
Day 2, I don’t know the word for ‘file’ (I do now), but I still took the long walk into town to find a ferreteria and bought a flat bastard. This did the job and I figure I had to take over 1 mm of material from each side of both manifolds in order to get a bolt tightened all the way down and still have room for a socket. There’s not much material left. Onward.
I followed the poorly photocopied directions and set the linkage and got everything bolted up, but I just couldn’t find any way to align the left linkage so that it is perfectly centered (photo – suggestions welcomed). There just isn’t any room left on the hex bar to move the arm. The photos in the instructions show a different bar. And, there is no spacer included between the carb and manifold as I might have expected. And, the nut on the throttle arm for each carb was installed stripped. They used the wrong size nut and just torqued it down. All sorts of metal filings were under it when I removed it. I’m not getting any impressions of quality. Onward.
I get to the point of tuning it up and I find that when I set the idle speed low enough on the left carb, there is no more adjustment on the mixture screw. There is room to turn it, but nothing happens. The right one continues to respond fine (I’m using a sync tool to make sure they are pulling air equally). So, I have to tune it and set it at about 1600 rpm in order to use the mixture screw on the left carb. Again, any suggestions welcomed.
Somewhere in here, I realize that my pedal is on the floor with no cable attached, so the spring behind the pedal has been doing nothing (the Kadrons have a hefty spring on them). So, I flipped the spring around behind the pedal, and it at least stands up. When I hooked up the cable, I found out that the tiny springs on the carbs aren’t doing much either. After pushing in the pedal, it barely returns. I see some sort of custom spring solution in my future.
It was finally together enough to drive, but I quickly realized that I had no brakes. It turns out the vacuum lines are only meant for the original dizzy – and even this seem questionable. There are no vacuum connections on the manifold, so I’ve got to find some fittings and a shop to drill and tap some holes for me. I guess I should have known this before I even came back to South America – but I didn’t.
I drove it a bit around town anyway to feel them out. I wasn’t really impressed. They do seem to run smooth, but there seems to be a ‘flat’ spot when you hit the pedal – not much acceleration. Maybe they’re just weaker than the Kadrons that I’m used to. Maybe I just need to play around with tuning some more. Also, I’m guessing – they just don’t make ’em like they used to.
So, I’m back on the Kadrons until I can spend more time on it.
Overall impression of build quality: poor.
Overall impression of performance: poor.
Overall impression of ability to install at a campsite in Uruguay: poor.
I’m not giving up – I’ll give it another shot. Just not this week.
hey jason we use 12mm nuts when installing these. makes it easier. you do need a balance tube running from each manifold that you can tee into for brake booster. I tend to buy these kits from Redline as they are the true weber distibutor for them in the usa, I do not know about some of the cheaper sellers like CIp1 where they get theirs from. these carbs wont be as powerful as the kads cause of size 34 vs 40 but good webers wont fall apart like the kads do.
Also be carefull with putting too much spring on the throttle as it can cause the bracket under the front pedal to bend or worse break
Mark – I did try the balance tube between the carbs (above the butterfly) for the booster, but the vacuum was just too weak. I’m going to drill into the manifolds and make another tee’d vacuum line.
I got my kit from Weber Carbs Direct. It was cheaper than other places, but I figured all Weber carb kits would be the same. Guess not.
Any ideas on aligning the left linkage? Or, adjusting the left mixture below 1600 rpm?
How do you say “Shade Tree Mechanic” in Spanish? You do have a shade tree don’t you? Buena Suerte!!!
I am not running the dual 34ict setup, but have 2 friends that are. They are both very happy with them but they won’t give you much more punch than stock. I am running the dual 40idf on one bus and the 44idf on the other. My experience has been that these are all custom modifications in that they must be modified to fit your set up. From the box they come ready to mount on a variety of different width engines (strokes from 66 to 90mm). I’m running a 71mm one one & 78 on the other. The throttle linkage had to be shortened on both and a lot of fine adjustment on the down arms going to throttle arms. If they are not exactly perfect you get a big hesitation coming on the gas & vibration above idle. Don’t give up on them, but doing the swap anywhere but in a shop where you can fit them to your engine isn’t doing them justice. Hope my rambling is of help.
http://genuineweber.blogspot.com/
One more thing – the air filters are pretty small and seem pretty open. Are you supposed to run them dry, or with oil?
I don’t have dual carbs but the flat spot is a common problem if you aren’t using a vacuum advance distributor. If you have a 009 (mechanical advance only) distributor, you will have that hesitation.
Larry – i’ve got the dreaded 009, but no flat spot with my current Kadron setup. Still, now that I’ve got carbs with a proper vacuum port, maybe i’ll get a regular distributor.
jaSON THE VACUUM NEEDS TO BE BELOW THE BUTTERFLYS. You seem to be missing a spacer part that lines that one arm up. also when setting them you need to remove the linkage from the carbs, set them and then adjust and install the linkage so as they do not hold the throttle open any
http://genuineweber.blogspot.com/
Redline is owned by Worldpac which is a major parts dist. in the USA
Volkswagen was at the height of their power in 1971. Why try to out-engineer them?
Rebuilding and installing this is the answer to your carb trouble, as you already know in your heart of hearts:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1381725
Alright,
Mitch.