Weber Overhaul and Spec for 1700 Big Valve.

[Elanintheforest]

There used to be a chap on here that did professional overhauls for weber carburettors, including ultra-sonic cleaning and plating of the rusty bits. Can anybody remember who he is or how to get in contact with him? He was up around Yorkshire way, I seem to remember.

Other wise, can anybody recommend a company that provides a good service for webers here in the UK?

I?ve recently bought a twincam with a 1700 711 block, big valve head and L2 cams which has had the carbs played with by the boys, i.e., mucked about with.!!

So I?d like to get it set up properly. Is there a standard set of carb jets and bits for this spec engine?

This is why I like standard / original spec kit, ?cos if it?s not in the book I haven?t a clue!

Cheers?Mark

[trw99]

Mark

Back in Dec 03: "I found Bert Holdings at Preston to be great. Friendly advice and all the parts. If you visit, it is a bit time warped but great for the parts. His prices are lots less than Lotus places.
He supplies the other carb places. Tel No is 01772 254971"

Is that the chap?

Oh, oh - just found this: http://passionford.com/forum/general-di ... -west.html

So what about: http://www.carburetters.co.uk/index.php
Or: http://www.carburettorspecialists.com/products.htm
Or: http://www.jrs.uk.com/JRS_Home.html

Tim

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

Whew Mark,

you can't talk about the Engine you've described & then mention the word "Standard".
You have something special & it seems the PO "tried to get it right?"
I'd have thought an Engine like that would be worth a couple of hours of test Bench running in order to get the Carbs etc. doing what they should do rather than relying on "Folk Lore"
Go on, smash the "Piggy Bank" & satisfy yourself that the Job's done right

Nix f?r ungut
John

[trw99]

Careful Mark

He'll have you running a Zetec next!

Tim

[elans3]

I agree entirely. You need to get it onto a good rolling road and have it set up properly. There are too many variables to say what the set-up should be, eg. valve sizes, camshafts, work done on combustion chambers, bore size, porting on cylinder head, compression ratio etc etc.
If you're not sure of what you have got, then its the only way. You could end up doing a lot of damage if you don't get it right.

Its a different thing if you know that what you have is absolutely standard.
Good luck
elans3

[HolmDenmark]

These guys have been recommended on the forum earlier
http://www.carbex.demon.co.uk/
I got a quote a couple of years ago, but its still on my to-do list but pretty far down to be honest

[JJDraper]

I have used these people for Weber spares and they also offer rebuild services. They offered telephone advice and were aware of the 'funny' Lotus Weber throttle arm (no they didn't have any..) which suggests some depth of knowledge. Spares arrived quickly.

http://www.gowerlee.dircon.co.uk/

Jeremy

[Elanintheforest]

Thanks for the input guys, and Gower and Lee look like the favourite. I used their service many moons ago and had forgotten their name.

I don?t think that this engine is very special John, as it?s just a standard big valve twincam with a few extra ccs provided by an over-bored 1600 block rather than an over-bored 1500 block! You begin to see how simple my life is, eh?!

I take your point though and it will be set up on a rolling road, but first I must get the carbs rebuilt as they are causing some issues with butterflies not closing properly. I?m sure that after 40 years service, and quite a few of those being inactive, they will benefit from a professional clean and checkup, and maybe new spindles and bushes.

The engine has been in the car since 1987, and in a write up in a magazine in 1991 was treated to a rolling road setup, which apparently transformed the performance. The output at the time was given at just over 130bhp, which leads me to believe that it?s pretty standard, albeit 1700 cc. Unfortunately, there?s an invoice in the history file from 2005 which has a load of jets, chokes and stuff bought from Burtons, and my guess is that some git has been messing about, changing what was the perfect setup because of other problems with the carbs. The engine is certainly running rich.

So I was after a starting point really, to put the carbs back to a known point, once re-built, and then onto a rolling road to be finely sorted. But I guess that the known point can be whatever it is now!

Mark

[ardee_selby]

Mark,

have just sent a pm.

Richard

[andyhodg]

Mark

The Guy I use for carb tuning is John Salt in Mollington, just north of Banbury. His contact number is 01295 750719

He is semi retired and does all the work from home. He was responsible for designing carburation systems for the production cars during his working life. He certainly improved the running of my Webber engined +2.

I know Banbury is a bit of a hike from the Forest of Dean but I just about do-able I think.

I can send you a PM with further details if you wish.

Best regards

Andy

[Elanintheforest]

Thanks for that, Andy, but I think that I'm sorted now. He does sound like a very useful contact though, and Banbury is only an hour away. Details noted for future reference.

Mark

[kenny]

Hiya Mark, bit late by the sounds of it but for future reference the guy I've been using for all things Weber is this chap here..........http://stores.ebay.co.uk/fastroadcarslimited. He can be a bit surly at times but his service and stocks are second to none...........nearly always next day delivery. I think he's the main Weber stockist in the UK

I'd always believed it was impossible to get Webers back to life cosmeticly but had a go myself recently for an engine bay refresh I was doing on my car. Total cost for the full job was circa 100 quid....this included all new bolts/levers/sundries and shiny bits although I did touch lucky and bought 2 full internal refurb kits off a private seller for 25 pounds.

I cleaned bodies with a chemical ali cleaner from Ardrox (nasty stuff but it does the job) and probably spent 2 hours reassembling and setting up..I was surprised by the results as I'd mucked about with ali polishes/coca cola and a whole host of other brews in the past to brighten things up and carbs always still looked the same.

PM me if you'd like any further details Mark of the job.

[prloz]

Hi Kenny,
Can you tell us which Ardrox product you used for cleaning the carbs ?
Thanks.
Regards,
Peter.

[kenny]

Hiya Peter, sorry for the delay in my reply. The product used on the carbs was in fact Chemetall 101 aluminium cleaner.

Cheers,
Kenny

[prloz]

Thanks Kenny,
Regards,
Peter.