On Thu, 24 Jul 1997 11:44 +0930 "Heuer, Paul"
<paul.heuer(at)dsto.defence.gov.au> writes:
>My car is a roadster, but has WIA-3 carbs, with a black 'pancake' on
>top
>which is piped to a giant air cleaner housing mounted on the inner
>fender,
>it has a paper element inside.
>My manual agrees with you, but a couple of other sources said the
>WIA's are
>correct.
What sources?
Remember that the GT was not a sedan, but an alpine that did not
have the softtop hardware.
I do not know how to differentiate these cars other than the softop boot
being different and no softtop frame ect.
I do however suspect that the factory sent off non-standard cars in
certain
exports. This would include low compression engines where petrol was
suspect, and likely WIA carbies where the paper filter was needed to keep
dust out of the engine.
Hey, is it dusty in Australia?
>A local carb shop has quoted to rebuild my carbs and said they would
>fit
>bushes to the body of the carb to fix the leaking throttle shafts. If
>the
>wear is in the carb body this is good. If the shafts themselves are
>worn,
>this won't work - do I then need to search for good second-hand
>shafts?
>What are the shafts made of and why hasn't anyone reproduced them? Do
The shafts are made of Brass.
Not sure why there are no supplies, but this seems to be a growing
problem.
I have two set of WIPs that need them.
Bill Lewis and I spoke a little about this some time back, and we
discussed
making some. He had a friend who had some ideas too.
Bill?
I believe that a competent welder could braze the worn section, then turn
the shafts to size.
>any people still run the downdraught Zeniths?
IMO The Zenith carbs are the best that the Alpine had to offer.
I would only choose a weber 32/26 on a solex manifold over the zeniths.
> What about turning the shafts down, then bushing the carb body to suit?
You shouldnt do this cause making the shaft any thinner results in faster
wear, plus the bushes are made of steel, and they tend not to wear too
much.
The shafts tend to wear 10 to 20 thou deep on the opposite
side of the throttle lever "due to the spring putting pressure on these
locations".
Turning the shaft down to this level would make for a pretty thin shaft.
>Does wear around the choke shaft cause the same problem, or is this
No, there is no pressure differential across the choke during normal
running,
so a gross leak here will only let some dirt into the inlet.
>If I rebuild these carbs, should I keep them as WIAs or change to
>WIPs? I
>understand the "power valve" is really an economy device and is
>another
>source of problems, so I would happily remove it. Are there any other
>considerations? I will need to change jets, etc if I change them to
>WIPs, as
>I have read that these are different between the two.
I would leave them as they are, unless you are trully hell bent for
performance. The WIP3 and WIA3 both have the largest available
venturi "30mm", so both will yield reasonable performance.
The power valve gives a larger equivilent jet only after manifold
depresion
has been lost. Removing it will require the larger main jet, and a
blanking
jet for the power valve hole.
The WIP will get a richer mixture mid throttle, but wide open throttle
should be about the same assuming the jetting is correct.
>Other options? (Remember I'm in Australia, less stuff for Alpines
>here)
>Twin Webers are too expensive, I'm only cruisin', and I don't fancy
>setting
>them up.
>Single Solex is not a good carb, I have heard, would need a manifold
>too.
>Single 40DCOE Weber - possible, but I may have trouble getting a
>manifold,
>still costly
>Twin single downdraught Webers from a VW, bolted onto my manifold -
>interesting, but risky
>Leave my stuffed WIAs on the car, buy a pair of WIPs, rebuild them and
>then
>fit them - looking better all the time...
Well, the dual DCOE approach is where I went.
For a mild engine, the jetting is well documented, and WILL work.
I am no machinist, otherwise I would have made my own shafts long ago.
I play now and then with a mill and a lathe, and I think these are the
only
operations needed to make these parts. + a tap for the butterfly screws.
There must be somebody out there to make these parts.
Personally I would pay $20 USD for each shaft.
Any takers?
Jarrid Gross
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