Hey all,

I think I've isolated my hessitation problem in my '61 p210. To recap, I've got a b-20 w/ 12 volt electrical conversion in car and a weber 32/36 dgav carb.(the auto choke). I know it's a mixture problem, and here's my hypothesis: The car idles evenly w/ no hesitations. I can floor it in neutral and get no hessitations. It recovers just fine. Lately(the past 4 days), the car's been hessitating rather badly upon acceleration and cruising when I'm applying the gas slightly. The hessitations begin after the initial "low end" of each gear. When I'm going downhill in gear not using the gas, no hessitations, etc. no hessitations when I take my foot off the gas and coast.

So---the past several days have been rather chilly (mid 40's...) Before then, the weather had been mild (60's in the day, 50's at night). The car ran fine when it was mild. Cold is not good!!! I'm guessing what's happening is that as the air is sucked through the small intake, it's getting cooled down way too much because the pressure is high. That's fine when it's warm...you get the "cold air intake" effect, but when it's cold, you get a bad mixture, not to mention ice in the filter. What I propose to do it slap on a larger, round air filter, probably a 10-12" edelbrock, mounted on a riser adapter to the carb. A mechanic friend of mine described the exact same problem w/ his car (same engine and carb, in a '71 142)...when it's warm, the car runs great, when it's cold, no dice. Since I'm heading up to Maine this winter to go to school, I'm thinking of also mounting a heat shield w/ hose fitting to my exhaust headers and running a pipe into the air filter box.....

If anyone has done this little conversion w/ the air filter box or has had the same problem as me, please let me know.

Thanks in advance,

Jay

This is a little late but all the options sound fine and just pick one. I've had a 544 as a wintercar in Buffalo for 17 years and have been through it all. I started with a B16 and a single Zenith 6V and have gone through just about every configuration I can think of. Last year I was committed to making the Weber work. The one thing I had was a Manual choke on my DGV 32/36. Good economy and fine winter starting but poor power until the stomp. I never did hook up the plumbing (hot water) and I drove it hard throughout the winter. I'd try dropping the electrical choke and getting a universal choke cable and going manual. Changing the timing works but it masks the problem and addresses the symptom. I had to re-jet the Weber for the B20 and it worked great (except it was still a Weber and progressive) but well tuned SU's just work better throughout the driving range.

First off...weber carbs suck.

OK...enough of my silly opinions.

Ever since I've been driving old Volvos, I've had the same damn problem and the best solution I've found is the winter/summer timing issue. When the weather is cold, crank that distributor a couple degrees clockwise. When it warms up again in the spring, put it back.

Of course, its a bit of a hassle during the fall and spring.....but if you are good, you can make the adjustment in about 45 seconds. About the time one might expect to wait at a red light. (Yes...I know this from experience)

The other alternative (which you gave up with the weber) is to leave the choke out a little. That works too...if you don't mind about 8mpg.

-Matt B

71 145s (103K !)

65 1800s (750K !)

71 142E (Its finally dead! I killed it!!! Woo Hoo) (Of course, she doesn't give up her parts easily...especially in sub-freezing weather)

53 XK120 (!)

61 MK2 (Actually, she's sold...just waiting for the truck to come pick her up and take her to home to California)

Matt,

I watched the austion for your Jag and am glad the price finally went up at the end!! Sorry to see it go, though.

Are you selling any parts from the 142? There's a few things I'd love to get my hands on, but I'm sure you have the same idea!

Sounds to me like you are over complicating things. Do you have the maifold warmer hooked up to the radiator hoses? The manifold has a port in it with pipe fittings that route warm water from the engine to the radiator. This warms the carb and whatever else. Moreover, it sounds like it is a simple choke adjustment. The choke is staying closed longer than it should. The auto choke has a spring inside that is heated by a power source from the key. As it heats, it allows the choke to come open. If it isn't getting warm enough, it holds the choke shut. By loosening the screws that hold the plastic cover, you can rotate the housing, changing the tension on the spring. When the enging is cold, the tension on the choke should make it just close, and no more. This will trip the fast idle cam and it should purr right along.

Leonard

57 444 b20/m41 (with 32/36)