I am sick and tired of trying to coax my Weber to run the engine correctly on my '71 144s automatic. it is resting on a TWM intake (no clue as to origin), and half of the original-type cast manifold (exhaust side). i have had this setup on two cars, and on each one there would be a slight bog-down when you stepped on the gas, it tends to be deeper and longer when the car is cold. but, yes, i am tired of constantly fiddling with the infernal thing and never having it work right. I have a grungy old pair of SU HIF 6's lying around, and despite my bad luck in the past, i want to try to set the pair up with all the original hoses actually hooked up correctly and see how that works. Question: is this better, or should i stay with the Weber? ( --
-Ben- '71 142S (parts), '71 144S, '74 164E

Have you ever tried rejetting the carb? IPD has a Weber jet kit that you can rent/buy. Might be worth a shot. And the most obvious thing. Is the accelerator pump working correctly?

As far as SU's go I always had better luck with HS6's than HIF6's. I don't care for the bimetal strip that holds the main jet in place. It was for emission control and the mixture would fluctuate under different temps. Of course one can always cut the bimetal strip so that it becomes a unimetal strip. Huuuum......

Good luck. Jim

try reducing your idle speed and richening it up a bit. that was my problem. i have a 145s automatic w/a weber 32/36 that had the exact same symptom except it would also spit and sometimes die. i also replaced my points (they were about 5 years old) but that was more about the spitting and dying problem. it's hard to guage the rpms without a tach; so it can be easy to have the idle too high. automatics should be idling at about 700-800 rpms. here is a great trouble shooting site.

http://www.recarbco.com/technical/newtrouble.html

it is a good place to start. i am curious if that works for you let me know.

p.s. retarded timing is another possible cause. the strength with webers is that they are supposed to be reliable and consistant as compared to sidedrafts. not necessarily better power, so there's the proverbial trade off...unless you talking about dcoe's of course.

regards, jeff

Go with the twin SU's. I have had them on an MGB previously, a 122S and now am about to put a pair of HIF6's onto my 1970 142S 2lt engine. Currently this has Stromberg CD's but I believe the HIF6's are a better carb. Incidently the ones I am going to use are from a Rover V8 engine but they were cheap and in pretty good nick. I will be putting on short stub stacks inside the standard Volvo airbox and sourcing the air from the front of the car. Tuning them is pretty easy so long as you have an airflow meter although many people say it is just as easy to use a length of pipe. I have found the former easier.
Good luck,
TimC

Burlen in the UK have just porduced a new series of ram pipes/stud stacks which come in both short and long versions. Their email address is info@burlen.co.uk. I have an email into them to find how much they are but have not had a reply yet.
TimC

Well I had a Weber 32 36 DGV on a Cortina many years ago and never had any problems with it. The engine was pretty peppy 1.5 liters 87 hp. The engine always had plenty of gas and air. I had to replace a worn out Weber (DCOE I believe) that had plenty of problems, wouldn't idle smoothly, hesitated during acceleration among other things. Never had any experience with sidedrafts.

You may have cam wear. I have had engines that refused to tune because of that.
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MPergiel, Elmhurst, IL '74 145e T-5 'Orange Alert'

Go with the SU's. Maybe KLR142 will chime in =) I've had both as well, currently DGV, and want to rebuild my original SU's....
--
Andrew - B20 dreaming of turbo

Yes, yes indeed. Chime in I will. The situation you're describing with your DGV sounds like a lean one to me. I never had much luck with my worn out DGV either though. Not as easy to adjust and too many dumb things to mess around with/replace to tune. Another thing that made me want to switch so much was the fact that the SUs are sidedrafts, so instead of coming down the progressive throats of one carb, and doing a 90 degree turn, then splitting unevenly into 4 different cylinders, they go through two evenly sized throats and are split into even length runners and then go into their respective cylinders. Better from a performance standpoint, well, in some ways. In other ways, having dual carbs on a straight four has some unhappy pulsing going on, but it's alright.

So yes, I'm voting for you to get to understand how the HIF6s work, (we can all help ya, I've been going through the process for the past better part of a year now), and toss them on there and see what you can do. Let us know how it goes and we'll help you through the tuning and such. Peace!
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Kyle - '68 142? - Oregon Volvo Tuners?

Is it that hard to tune SU's?
If they're in good shape and you follow the tuning sequence in the manual, take it for a run and "touch it up a bit" I've never really had a problem. Actually I am more used to doing them then a 4bbl on a V-8.
I still use my old uni-syn synchronizer I got from ipd about 25 years ago.
Of course your timing and all has to be proper also.
Chris

Nah, they're pretty easy, I just didn't take the time to fully understand how they work and how they're adjusted until recently.
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Kyle - '68 142? - Oregon Volvo Tuners?