IM Auto comes with Carb motor, are Carb motors hard to work on?

Hello Everyone.
I have never owned a carborated car before and was wondering how much know-how and learning I would need to do to drive it daily? I keep hearing these horror stories from people who say that depending on the weather and seasons I will have to tune the carb and such otherwise it might die on me at a stop light or in the middle lane of traffic etc. Can I just get the carb IM and just jump in a drive? Or do you REALLY have to tune it daily? How much more time and upkeep is involved with the Carb motor as opposed to the Watercooled FI ones?

Unfortunetly due to a leg problem I have had since childbirth I need an automatic and even though IM is producing a Watercooled FI car he says he cant make it (the watercooled) in an Auto. Problem is that I REALLY want an IM and the auto only comes in the Carb motor. So since I cant change my genetics and REALLY want a IM I guess my only choice would be a Carb motor with a Auto. I have no problem with the build quality of the IM but in all honesty the Carb motor really scares me as I dont like to "tinker" too much with the car. How much effort and time does it take to have a Carb motor and are there any major "pluses" to having one?

If you get a motor that is not too 'high strung' you will be fine. I've got a big motor with big carbs, and I never tune them. Whoever is telling you that they need tuning all the time, either doesn't know what they are talking about, or is really fanatical about how his carbs are tuned. 2110 or smaller and you will be fine.

I'd say; buy it, drive it, enjoy it. Don't worry about it.

Just as Ron said ! ! With dual carbs, you don't have any chokes, but the intake runners are short enough that a simple pump or two on the pedal, on a cold day, and the engine will start as easily as any FI engine.

The aural benefit of an air cooled engine singing away out back is what contributes to the whole "time travel" experience of driving a Porsche. You'll be merry as a mollusk with the choice(s) that you've made.

Seconding what Ron said: Look at how many millions of carbureted cars were produced before electronic fuel injection became commonplace, and the vast majority of them never had problems. Sure, they need to be rebuilt after 75K or 80K miles or so, but I've seen fuel injectors on EFI cars have problems, too, and rebuilding a carburetor is realatively easy to do.

Like Ron, I have a larger engine; 2,110cc with dual Dellorto 40mm carbs (long name, but they were once used mostly for racing and don't have chokes in them). They're similar in operation to Webers of the same size and type, and most people who have either of those never need to touch them. Their main idiosyncracy is that you have to pump the accelerator a lot when first starting them up, to take the place of not having chokes. Nothing once you get used to it, and once they're warmed up (2 - 3 minutes) they run just like EFI.

Sure, they can sometimes get a clogged jet, but, more often than not, someone diagnoses an ignition problem as a "Clogged carb Jet" and tears into them, only to find they have a bad plug or plug wire or something else.

I've been runing mine since 2001, have roughly 20K miles on them, and have had one clogged jet (which is easy for a good mechanic to find, BTW) and two bad plug wires in that time. The plug wires were probably my own fault (wrong type to start with).

Hope this helps, but I don't think you'll have troubles with an IM approved engine (and most likely it'll be built by Pat Downs at CB Performance - a great engine builder).

TC and Gordon mention chokes. I forgot about that because I don't have chokes either, but Henry's engines DO have chokes, so even starting won't be the issue it is for us.

Shawn: Just to throw in my 2 cents, might I suggest something that one of our other SOC members has done. SAS, Specialty Auto Sports, can build a 356 model Porsche to your needs, except rollup windows on the Speedster. Their Cabriolet version (see John Hallstrand's car) can be built with flared fenders, power windows, watercooled FI engne, automatic transmssion, air conditioning, cruise control and emmission controls. They are more expensive than most builders and come close to IM's prices; one major problem is the length of time it takes from ordering to delivery due to the small size of their building staff and the number of cars being built. The suggestion is to contact Steve Lawling at SAS and ask to be placed on a repurchase list. A few customers have become disallusioned with the delay in building their cars and have backed out of their contracts. Steve refunds the customers money and easily place the car under construction in the hands of another buyer. My particular build is approaching the 2 year mark, a vast difference from John and Steve's build time but the beauty and unique design of their cars created a demand that SAS hadn't expected. What ever yor choice I'm sure you'll enjoy the ride and display SOC's SEG when you hit the rode!