carburettor advice needed

[bigsi]

Well i took a look at my carbs today, then went to a specialist who told me that i need a new set of full carb gaskets. i have looked at sj sports catalogue and they do a gasket kit, but will this include everything?

i have attached 2 pictures to show whats been over tightened on the carbs, also there is some sort of aluminium spacer? between the carb flange and the head flange , the specialist told me that he would remove that and just fix the carb to the head with the new gaskets, is this right?

to be honest i will probably replace the gaskets myself and do the job myself but i need to know what to get and the how to's!!

any advice gratefully received

thanks

simon

[WayneB]

Simon, you need a kit that is for the pressurised 40 DHLA Dellorto carbs (neoprene float chamber gaskets).

I usually use a company called Gower and Lee for gasket kits, but I reciently tried a company called Fast Road Cars in Wales, who gave super fast delivery and a genuine product at a great price.

[email protected]

01495-244362

sorry I cant find there address

Its best to remove the carbs to install the gaskets/accelerator pump/ needle valve etc., but it can be done with them on the car if your patient and carefull.

Lots of spray carb cleaner and compressed air is also handy to clean out all the jets and small orifices and passageways.

The washers you mentioned are called soft mount washers, and are used in conjunction with large rubber "O" rings and groved spacers to allow the carbs to move slightly to prevent fuel frothing which is common on sidedraft carburettor installations.

I personally wouldnt remove them and replace with a plain gasket.

Edited September 20, 2006 by WayneB

[bigsi]

hi wayne.

well the part i was reffering to is either an aluminium or steel spacer it looks like, about 10mm thick i guess i havent measured it yet.

well thats the one he wants to take away and just have a gasket in there, but im assuming its there for a reason and theres a gasket probably both sides?

anyway heres a picture to show the part.

also thanks for the heads up on that company, they are only about 20 mins from me maybe less so i can go there and buy the parts i need and more. they may reccomend a full service or do it themselves , i will find out in the morning.

i have also just found this company online so i may give them a call also and have them both refurbed ,cleaned and all internals re-fitted etc. then just re-fit to my car.

looking promising now

http://www.jrs.uk.com/o_ultracar.htm

Edited September 20, 2006 by bigsi

[WayneB]

Those are the machined spacers that the rubber O rings fit in to enabling the carbs to move slightly to prevent frothing as I explained before.

They are not part of a standard Dellorto rebuild kit and have to be bought separately.

Leaving these out would be inviting carburettor problems IMO

They are pretty complicated carburettors and if your not confident you could strip them and re-assemble them (with them containing the same amount of parts) It would be a good idea to have a pro do the job.

Chris Montague Carburettors of Muswell Hill in London used to be where I got Webers done, but I dont know if they are still in business.

Edited September 20, 2006 by WayneB

[lwasson]

Hi Simon

When I first got my '83 Turbo it was flooding on a biblical scale. I discovered on the front carb that the float needle was incorrect. Emailing Dellorto the tech rep informed me to be careful when getting rebuild kits because some kits are fake. He said to make sure you get the kits from a dealer you trust or buy them directly from Dellorto. I bought them directly from the company and that cured a lot of issues. That was several years ago and I don't recall the price.

Louis

'83 Turbo

[Splashout]

Simon as Wayne has said realy the O-rings sit in a grove on that spacer so I wouldnt remove them.

Replacing the others isnt to hard a job as is checking the needle height, which is all listed in the bible that is the manual.

Glyn

[bigsi]

well i have just got off the phone with the guy from the carb website, for

[Splashout]

That doesn't sound to bad but I haven't done anything like that so it could be hugely overpriced but certainly sounds fair for

[bigsi]

im not sure, but as i have said im a bit of a perfectionist and i like to be preventative when it comes to my cars.

however i will be getting the tuner in first and then see what he says.

tomorrow all the work starts.

[molemot]

First question - how does the car run? Do you actually have any problems? The "gaskets" you point out in your fist photos are rubber and steel devices which, as Wayne has said, provide a certain degree of flexibility between the carburetters and the motor itself, in conjunction with the "O" rings. Losing a bit of rubber from the outside of one of these will have no affect on the engine. I wouldn't contemplate a carb. rebuild unless there was a genuine reason to do so, known air leaks or fuel leaks. If it's all working OK, there is no reason to interfere with it. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" as the saying goes. Having said that, I have changed all the gaskets in my Dellortos, and found I had a large pile of used but still perfectly serviceable gaskets and seals! Thus my recommendation not to mess with it unless you have a real carburation problem which indicates seal or gasket failure.