Does any manufacturer remanufacture Weber carburetors? I'm thinking setting up my 289 with some Weber 44's or 48's and was wondering if anyone remanufactures them WELL. I see on Ebay there are some Chinese repops for a low low price, but they look sketchy. My other option is hunting for 4 at swap meets and rebuilding them, but then tuning would be more difficult. Currently running Holley 600 and want something different. Anyone know of some safe manufacturers?
The Chinese HPMX knock-offs have a decent reputation from what I have seen/heard. There are those that will slag off ANY Asian reproduction of ANYTHING, and they are on every forum, and they will show up on this thread shortly as well. Just ask them if they own a car with real webers, my guess is, most times, the conversation will end right there. Every indication I have seen is that the Chinese knock-offs are pretty much as good as the Spanish "webers". The real deal Italian webers are literally about 4-5 times the money. This is a Volkwagen motor, and the carbs are 44's not the 48's you need, but it may be informative nonetheless.
The mini guys are all about DCOE side draft carbs and for his application the OP really needs downdrafts. The original downdraft of choice for FoMoCo/Shelby etc was the IDA (usually in 48 mm form) as stated by George. The smaller carbs (40/44mm) may be a little more tractable on the street than a set of 48mm IDA's. As for tuning, the Webers are simple when you know how and they have a wide range of adjustments in all areas (including venturi diameter). Roo
I run a set of 44 IDF's on my 306" Falcon motor. It does not run out of air at 6500 RPM. Mine are genuine Italian (pre 1992) Weber's bought used. As for new Weber's the Genuine Weber's that are made in Spain are the ones I would run - Not the Chinese EMPI ones. JMO
I bought it from a Mustang specialty shop - It was New Old Stock, they had it at least 30 years, brand unknown. not the same as the Redline one, but close
Ok. Cool. I'll poke around and see what I can find. It seems like most of the repops out don't have the thermostat housing, mostly because of it's popularity with the cobra doobs. I'm not totally sold on Webers yet, price being the biggest con. I'm also trying to stay budget minded, but also looking for some things I want to get done this winter in my garage. I think if I could find a manifold for a fair price I'll probably pick it up as well as a few Weber carb tuning books off Amazon and start reading before I dive into buying the carbs. 63 Fairline + teardrop hood + velocity stacks + Tri-y headers Oh. mah. gah, Becky do you hear that boiz cah
My Dad had a fancy-pants downdraft intake with four Dellorto carbs on his '32 for a while. He tried all kinds of adjustments and parts switches, but could never get it to run correctly. We don't know if those type of carbs are really so difficult to tune, or the tuner was just too inexperienced.
Well ,you can't blame the carbs. IDA's and IDF's have been used by road racers successfully for 50 years. Downdraft Webers and DellOrtos have been OEM on Fiat Spiders and Alfa Suds [the Sud is a good source for IDF's]
Check Alfas for carbs. Had an Alfa 90 with two Webers. The spanish Webers are available from Mooneyes. Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Coming from (and still very active in) the VW world I have had the opportunity to see how the repop Webers do and the feedback from actual owners I have spoken with is not worth the money. The fit is poor, linkage bends and is impossible to dial in, seals get eaten by fuel, etc. In short, you end up spending more on getting them to unreliably work than buying a set of Italian or Spanish ones and spending the money on getting them professionally gone through. At Pomona or any of the other large American car swap meets there are always dirty, used carbs on the ground in singles or pairs for a pretty good deal. Just make sure the throttle shafts are smooth and the butterflies are in the exact same position when closed. If they are not pass on them as it is an indicator of a bent throttle shaft and while it can be fixed, it takes part mechanic, part wizard to get them dialed in. Everything else can be boiled out, cleaned and repaired at the same or less $ than a set of repops. The jetting and venturi selection is probably new to most people as is the actual tuning procedure. But once they are dialed in, they are set for a very long time. Just my .02 as a current Italian Weber owner who has made every mistake there is on these things and still believes in them. NAES
I have run Webers, Solex, and Mikuni, DCOE 48s and have been happy with all of them. Just a warning, my son bought overhaul kits for his Webers, and found they came from China. The jets and emulsion tubes were so bad, that he had to pull the carbs apart and put the used stuff back in, until he could source the kits from a European distributor. It was a nightmare. Bob
Porsche 914's use Weber conversions a lot and they are still available. I think some on already pointed you to Red Redline. Call them.
Check out Blackline Racing in Utah. They took over Art Thrans business and the guy was great making 48 IDA’s work. Great Carbs once they are dialed in and man do they sing when ya mash the pedal..