What carbs should I use???? Help!!!

Hey Guys, Ive got a fairly fresh 1641 engine ,mild cam,009 dist and a merg header system. I've got a set of baby dells that I can put on in place of the single stock carb. They Must be rebuilt first. Should I do this or should I put on fresh webers or??? Say 40s or your suggestions and addivce. Thanks Mike

If you have the baby Dells ,rebuild them and save some serious bucks, they will work fine with your mild engine.

I agree with Alan on this......"Baby" Dells of a size somewhere between 28mm - 34m would be fine for that engine. Anything more would be too much flow for that size engine, especially if the valves are close to stock size.

Just my 2 cents.......

Gordon
One of the three "Speedstah Guys" from Beaufort

Gordan, These are single barrell twin carbs. Can I exspect much difference in performance from these than from the one single barrell carb? Where can I get rebuild kits for these? Thanks Mike

Alan , Have you had the Baby Dell before? If so , how was the performance? thanks, Mike

Mike
A friend had 1600 dual port with the Baby Dells on it.
Cold morning starts were a bit iffy with the usual spit here and there for the first few warm up minutes while feathering the throttle pedal.
Once the intakes warmed it was smooth throught the throttle range.

Here's a vote to break with old skool tradition. Go buy a set of good used ICTs. Sell the the old set of Dels and never worry about carbs for your 1641 again.

Hey Jim, What size ICTs would you recommend? What brand? Where can I get them? thanks, Mike

Also , I'm still thinking about the Dells! Where's the best place to buy rebuild kits from? I'm still looking at all my options!!! thanks, Mike

Dell rebuild kits are readily available from CB Performance.

gn

Mike, you can buy Weber ICT sets from about any VW Perf Parts Outlets. I like the set up from CB performace as they use intergrated (to the liankage) Filter bottoms and tops and like the IDFs. They are made by Weber and a new set is probably $350 with every thing: linkage, manifolds, hoses, T, filters, etc.

The Samba is also an excellent source for used and new ones.

Also, for grins, put a Wanted ad in our For Sale thread. Someone here may have a set.

If you don't get the CBs, I would use SCATs linkage.

They are known as Baby Webers.

Thamks Guys for all your advice!!! Anyone else want to put in their 2 cents worth? What would you do? thanks again, Mike

If I was mechanically inclined (but a bit "frugal"), I'd rebuild the Dells. If I didn't want the hassle, and had a few more bucks, I'd buy the CB ICT kit. If I wanted something that would work perfectly right out of the box, and money wasn't a huge concern- I'd call AJ Sims about some Kads set up for your engine, jetted pretty close right out of the box.

My only experience has been with the baby webers, (ICT's) and they have been trouble free. Had them balanced once and are very responsive and better yet, relieable!

Bruce

I have a set of used Weber 34 ICT's with the manifolds and linkage. I broke them down and found the insides to be like new , just cleaned them a bit and put them back together.... They have the usual "stains" on the outsides . I got them some time ago and didn't follow through on the engine build so they sit.

Alan,

Do you want to sell the baby Webs? I have a little motor (just a 110 with slip-in 88's) that I'm building that would LOVE those carbs.

Could you get back to me with a price and such?

THANKS!

TC

TC email sent

Hey guys, I've checked everywhere for Baby dell carb rebuild kits with no luck at all! CB performance does'nt have them and I've checked out about 5 other VW performance shops and suppliers with no luck. Does anybody know of anyone who has them currently in stock? I've had several suppliers say that they are on back order and will be in in a couple of months. I'd like to get these carbs together over the winter , if you know what I mean! Help! Advice! thanks, Mike

I'm still looking for dellorto FRD34 (baby Dell) carb rebuild kits! Does anyone know of any supplier that accually has them in stock now! thanks, Mike

Hey Mike,
Did you try Donsco? I know they carry Dellorto rebuild kits.

www.donscoperformance.com

Good luck,
Terry

Get the Kads, I think they even have an automatic choke.

Hey Terry, Thanks for the advice on the supplier for the carb kits! Unfortunitly he did'nt have them either. It seems everybody is waiting for a shipment to come in. thanks, mike

Paul, Those Kads are looking better all the time!!!!! Mike

Does anyone know if this is right! If I was to buy a set of Kadrons carbs, Would I also need to replace my 009 non-vacume advance dist. for a dist. that has vacume advance? If that is the case then that could get to be quite expensive change over when all is said and done! Right? mike

Someone correct me if I'm wrong (which is more frequent as I continue to get older), but I was under the impression that those Kadrons were "Plenum based" carbs, meaning that they expect to have the intake manifolds connected together via an "Equalizer tube", or 3/8" - 1/2" diameter hose running between them. To that end, the combined manifolds will provide adequate vacuum pressure ("that big Suckin' Sound", according to Ross Perot) to drive a vacuum advance distributor. Non-plenum based carbs (Webers and Dellorto's come to mind) don't have the equalizer tube and a single manifold can't provide a large enough or "smooth" (pulse free) vacuum signal to drive the disti's advance diaphragm, so folks started using the centrifugal advance versions.

Whew! Having typed all that, I don't see any particular reason for swapping out a perfectly good, centrifugal advance, 009 distributor for a vacuum advance type. They both do the same thing, and I personally believe that the centrifugal advance is just as good, if not better, if it's in good shape. Many are also separately adjustable for idle advance and maximum advance and where that max advance begins to "come on" in the rpm band.

Stick with what you've got, and just plug the manifold's vacuum port for the distributor.

Gordon
"Dr. Sparks" in rainy Beaufort

To throw another wrinkle in this- the Kads (or ICTs for that matter) are plenumn based carburator, like Gordon said. However, neither the ICTs nor the Kads will work with a vacuum advance distributer out of the box. AJ Sims will add a port to the Kads for a vacuum advance distributer, but they don't have the proper port (it isn't manifold vacuum) unless they are added. The 009 distributer will work fine with eiter stock Kads or ICTs- a (recurved) vacuum advance distributer is reported to work better with plenumn based carbs.

If you have the time, and can wade through the most poorly designed website in history, visit AJ Sims' site- it will answer every question you ever had about Kads. I ordered a set of his 46 mm Kads, with all the bells and whistles, along with the vacuum distributer for my 2110. I'll let you know how it runs- the motor will be on the dyno next Saturday.

My friend JJ got the vacuum advance distributor from AJ Simms and got his Kads jetted by them too. His car runs good but he still isn't sure if the total investment was worth it. Since he retrofitted the distributor with an electronic ignition by taking out the points, etc. it makes it even more confusing. Maybe he can jump in and explain it better than I do. JJ!!!!!!......

dellorto parts are found at sales@dellorto.co.uk His name is Matthew- Tell him I sent you!

Jake:

Thanks for the Dellorto link - pretty cool site!

gn

Hey guys! I give up! I'm seriously thinking that I'll go ahead and order the Dual 40 Kadron carb kit for my 1641 engine. I've found them at www.pacificcustom.com for only $340.00 + shipping. That's the cheapest price I could find. What do you think? Good decision? What would you do? Is there a better deal somewhere else? Lowbugget.com has them for $399.00 + shipping , but do I really need to spend another $59.00 for adjustments that I can do myself? Or is that the smart way to go! Advice please!! thanks, Mike

Check with Gene Berg; they sell you their Kadron kit already fine tuned, with K& N filters (lifetime investment) and jetted and adjusted for your size engine and type of driving, etc. plus their linkage. Kadron linkages are known for being flimsy. It might cost a bit more but it's better in the long run and will save you a lot of headaches.

Michael wrote:

"do I really need to spend another $59.00 for adjustments that I can do myself?"

IMHO- yes. Jets cost money. Time is money. $60 is pretty cheap. If you want to run them out of the box, the CB ICT kit looks nicer, and has a much better linkage than stock Kads.