Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

I'll grab my spares box tomorrow and get some confirmation, pretty sure I have both style pistons. Yes the jets are a press fit, but you really need to make a little jig as they can bend. Their depth is also important.

A few pictures and things that may be helpful.

The piston/air valve on the left is the fixed type - on it you pull the needle out from the bottom (after removing the side grub screw). If you can't see anything but a solid bottom with a dimple as you look down the tube with a light, this is what you have. The one on the right would have a star washer to keep it in place from the top.





This picture shows a carb with the jet in and a loose on sitting on it. The extension that reaches into the fuel is thin and bends under pressure, so for pressing it in you need a stiff ss tube or other suitable drift that presses in on the shoulder and not the extension (but that fits within the body). I'm also attaching a Lotus service bulletin that addresses jet height (how far below the jet face should be from the inside bottom surface of the venturi/choke. Note that this carb has an extra tube extending from the mount - I don't think this was a Lotus carb. The second picture shows the mount flange of a Lotus carb with markings identifying its series or reference number. The final picture is of a page from the Zenith Stromberg booklet published by Burlens.

The LSB pdf was too big, but I remembered I'd posted it and a couple others near the end of my stromberg rebuild thread...

viewtopic.php?f=40&t=41122&start=30

Thanks Senc, I definitely have the non adjustable type needles. It's good to know that it's possible to change these to the adjustable type by simply changing the pistons and that it was a Lotus Service Bulletin to do so. Now I will have to find some pistons with adjustable needles. I checked with Ray at RD and he did not have any and it seems this is not a common request.

I pulled the carburetors off again for what must be the 15th time. I did notice the choke disc was installed up side down. Maybe this will give me a little more richness to get the car running. I also noticed a hole was drilled in the mounting flange of the rear carb. It was drilled a little too deep and punched a small hole into the air passage. You can see a small pin point of light at the bottom of the hole in the picture. Not a big leak but another small one. I think they are all starting to add up - death by a thousand cuts.

Carb numbers are 3175R from a 1967 Elan and 5236R (or 3236R) from ???.

I'll check the Burlens catalog tomorrow and see if I see either of those numbers to help with ID. Sounds like you may have a mismatched pair, though? In which case, definitely worth checking the needles and jets to ensure they are not also mismatched.

The following link goes to a zenith service bulletin from the Burlens site that may be of use.

http://zenithcarb.co.uk/zenservicebulle ... ore=zenith

You might try Bean, I’m pretty sure I messed up one of the Pistons trying to fool around with the Jet and Ken came up with one, Gordon

This thread is yet another good advertisement for EFI

I skimmed the catalogue and didn't find 5236 or 3236... there is a 3286R Volvo 175CDSE if it could be that. if you have the pistons out pull on the needle against the spring and there should be a number on the base of the needle - compare 1 against the other.

"This thread is yet another good advertisement for EFI "

Ah but with Webers you can also BBQ!! D

bast0n wrote:"This thread is yet another good advertisement for EFI "

Ah but with Webers you can also BBQ!! D

And with Dellortos...

OMG - is that for real???

HCA wrote:OMG - is that for real???

That WAS a 1977 S1 Esprit modified (engine and suspension) at birth by Vegantune and then shipped to Canada.

The BBQ took place in 1989 on the road to Whistler BC

Hey, no complaints, I had it for four and a half days before it melted.

That is terrible!
I admire your stoic resignation .,..

Here is a picture of the front carb number. This is why I'm not sure what number is correct.