My rail project (56K go bake a cake)

DubsMcGee · Post by **DubsMcGee** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 7:52 pm

Another thing, we tried to adjust the carb but niether of the adjustment screws did anything. We could not get it to idle without the choke on. Do we need to hook up the solinoid thingy (fuel cutoff? idk) or anything else? The carb is a SOLEX 34 PICT 4 only made for one year for California vehicles. Any knowledge on these carbs or suggestions on what to do would be appreciated.

Post by **Leatherneck** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 9:06 pm

Fuel cut off or Idle cut off? either way hook it up also check for vacum leaks and verfiy timing. You might think of ditching that carb.

SANDDUDE · Post by **SANDDUDE** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 12:58 am

If you can move either side of the throttle shaft a little bit........I'm w/ LeatherNeck, toss it in the file cabinet & buy a new one. I bought a new EMPI/Kafer 34 pict for a little over a $120.....by the time you have a machine shop ream & rebush it.....I think it will be about the same money??

DubsMcGee · Post by **DubsMcGee** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 4:48 am

Leatherneck wrote:Fuel cut off or Idle cut off? either way hook it up also check for vacum leaks and verfiy timing. You might think of ditching that carb.

Idle cutoff, that's it. I'm looking at a few in the samba classifieds as we speak.

scott the viking · Post by **scott the viking** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 6:04 am

Did you find one? If not...I have a new one in my junk you can try.

DubsMcGee · Post by **DubsMcGee** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 6:05 am

Carb or idle cutoff? I'm thinking of getting a 2 bbl, found a few in my immediate price range.

scott the viking · Post by **scott the viking** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 6:11 am

Carb...but if you can go with a single IDF (or similar) even better.

DubsMcGee · Post by **DubsMcGee** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 7:07 am

The thing is that I know absolutly nothing about carbs, so I don't know what to get and what to avoid. I found some holley/weber progressive 2bbl's on the samba that I can afford at the moment. I don't know what IDF is

Any info/tips about what I should look for would be appreciated.

ChadRat · Post by **ChadRat** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 7:33 am

stay away from the progressives! Get a weber/empi 40 IDF.

DubsMcGee · Post by **DubsMcGee** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 7:42 am

What is the reasoning for avoiding the progressives?

is this a progressive carb?
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/ ... ?id=303582
and how do I tell them apart?

ChadRat · Post by **ChadRat** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 8:04 am

the progressives are hard to tune. Yeah that is one. The barrels are at 90 degrees from the fan shroud where as the IDF barrels are parallel with the shroud. Does that make sense?

scott the viking · Post by **scott the viking** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 8:05 am

A progressive is alright IF you know a lot about carb tuning...I am going to go out on a limb and say that you do not...so it is not the carb for you. A Weber IDF is not a total cake walk if you know nothing about it...BUUUUT it is pretty darn easy to help you tune it step by step and I can get you pretty close to the correct jetting to start with. So...if you cannot afford the IDF...get a stock replacement for now....You don't want to create anymore headaches. But in the future...I think you should look for an 40 or 44 Weber IDF.

DubsMcGee · Post by **DubsMcGee** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 8:11 am

I probably know as much about tuning a carb as I do about brain surgery, so you would be correct in assuming that I have no clue as to what is going on. But I do have a good carb tuning resource (Don). He's been messing with carbs for longer than I have been alive, are the progressives even difficult for a seasoned veteran to tune? And how do you tell the progrssives apart from the others? Is the one in the link i posted a few posts above progressive?

edit:
If I am going to buy another carb I would like to get a little more power out of it, or should I just get something like this?
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/ ... ?id=352067

scott the viking · Post by **scott the viking** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 8:34 am

About the veteran carb tuner question...That is tough to answer...I can tell you that I have seen many people who thought they were good tuners get their butt kicked by a progressive on a VW. With the right guy and right equipment...you can tune nearly anything. It's a roll of the dice.
As for the question if the carb pictured is a progressive...it is not. This is a progressive...not a very good pic of one...bit you get the idea. A progressive will have two barrels on the bottom (butterflies)....but they do not open at the same time, one of the barrels does not kick in until the throttle is at a given point...It progressively opens.

Post by **david58** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 8:47 am

http://www.autopartsheadquarters.com/weber_carbs.htm
This shows the different carbs.