Webber carb

Virtually none compared to a Zenith in good condition - but if your Zenith is warped or otherwise unrepairable it would make a good replacement.

I fitted a webber to my 2a and it iced up regularly stopping the engine after about 20 miles of driving. I made a few enquiries I was told "it wasn't unheard of". Mine was fitted with a Solex, the casing had worn at the spindles letting in air making starting difficult. With the benifit of hindsight I would repair or replace the old carb with one of the same make or put up with the poor starting. If the existing carb is in reasonable conition I would leave it alone.

HTH

Paul

I too have a Solex mounted at the moment, which leads me to the question, which of the two, Solex or Zenith, would be the better solution?

Raoul

I've heard that the Webber is not good at supplying fuel at extreme angles, which is why the Zenith and Solex were chosen.

Could be wrong though, not fitted one myself.

Paul

On or around Mon, 20 Sep 2004 07:26:47 +0100, Nikki Cluley enlightened us thusly:

put one on the series II, to replace a very dodgy old solex. worked fine, IIRC.

nor did I notice icing as a problem - mine was run through the standard filter and inlet though.

carb icing may happen more with unleaded. but then again, it's solveable by putting the intake near the exhaust manifold, so it draws warm dry air into it in winter.

As far as I can see there is no real choice between the Solex and Zenith, with the Weber being a bit down on power compared to the others, and correspondingly down on fuel consumption depending on driving, but the differences are slight. Weber is also supposed to be less suitable for extreme slopes, but again, I think the differences are slight. The big difference is between a carburetter in good condition and one in poor condition! JD

Of course thanks. So there is no need to exchange the carb when it jsut should be overhauled, thanks.

Raoul

in article BD7436B7.F9F3% snipped-for-privacy@ntlorld.com, Nikki Cluley at snipped-for-privacy@ntlorld.com wrote on 20/9/04 7:26:

I fitted a new Webber to my Srs11a about a year age and have had no problems with it what so ever after the initial setting up,I fitted it as the "original" was beyond ajustment without an overhaul and more importantly it was free.

There's serious issues sadly with all three carbs... Zenith's I'd have to say from my experience are by far the worst of the lot. There are serious manufacturing problems - the bodies were never correctly heat treated, so nearly all are warped to some extent, and run rich (or very rich)! I have a collection of around 8 crap old ones. A friend in the trade recently bought

5 brand new - all were warped from manufacture and totally useless. They also suffer from wear around the shafts on the throttle venturi. This leads to petrol running down the outside of the carb onto the manifold. I've tried all the tricks including thick gaskets and plugging holes to get round the warping, but once they're gone they're gone!!

Solex were dumped by LR in favour of the zenith. As far as I know they're not great. Tend to give a lower power output, and not as good economy as Zeniths. The only ones I've come accross have been old and knackered. I don't think they're particulaly available either.

The Webers are OK, but have the following problems: The diaphragm on the enrichment pump dies after a while, leading to weak running/poor acceleration and more frequent icing. The part also isn't available from anywhere leading to total carb replacement. I've got one knackered one in the shed.. They also are quite bad on slopes. Mine often gave me trouble on fairly minor side slopes - very rich running and necessitating a foot constantly on the throttle to keep the engine running. Icing up has been a problem too normally after a mile or two in cold weather. Best way to avoid is by light throttle openings only until the engine's really hot. Having a radiator muff helped that too. On the plus side I got an extra couple of mpgs on a weber. They do need to be used with an inline filter - lots more prone to blocking up than the other 2.

By far the best option is to fit an SU or Stromberg. You'll need to get someone to make a 90 deg adapter bend for the inlet, but from experience on many cars they're superb carbs when set up and don't go wrong often. Never tried this conversion on an LR yet, but saw it done on a IIA - owner reported superb results & 23mpg!! If not the weber is the best of the others.

Have fun...

Andy

If you've got a solex, you'll need to change the throttle linkage by the carb, as it has to move in the opposite direction. I think the Zenith is a straight swap, barring the adapter plate.

I've never liked the Solex carb myself, but that's down to personal choice. The Zeniths tend to suffer from poor quality materials/manufacture.

The two downsides to the weber are the small float chamber, which gives problems on sideslopes, and minimal reserve should your fuel pump give trouble.

Secondly the cold start seems quirky, requiring full choke for starting, but very quickly requiring only a minimal amount of choke for idling, otherwise it stops. Then you get it idling on a little choke, only to find it coughs and dies, or hesitates when you attempt to accelerate. Pulling the choke out some more cures this problem, but results in far too rich idling, which will cause it to conk out. Once warmed up, it's fine though.

As for performance/economy the Weber and the Zenith seem largely indistinguishable, both seem to give roughly the same power. If your carb is in good order, then keep it, I don't see any point in changing it for the sake of changing, it won't benifit you an awfull lot.

Fitting an SU carb makes a marked difference, but you have to factor in the cost of both the carb and a manifold as well, which makes it expensive.

Alex

Glad it's not just me then!!

I've been running a weber for the last nine years, and the only complaint I'd give is the cold start running. Once the engine's warm it runs perfectly. Don't think I've ever experienced carb icing.

Neil.

Andy and Alex have just done the best two posts I think I have ever seen on this subject on any forum. When asked about Webers my usual reply is don't do it, stick to the Zenith (having had grief with both on past Landies) but they have provided some food for thought on this.

Cheers guys

Sean

73FL74 101GS 1984 110 2.5N/A Medway Military Vehicle Group

in article snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com, Sean Ryan at snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com wrote on 20/9/04 8:11 pm:

Printed replies off and Bruce is reading them now. Thanks.

So much for the paperless concept of computing then....

Remember, mistakes are erased using the delete key, not with tippex on the screen.

Alex

No, it's not you, I've got 3 landrovers with webers, and they all do it! One of these days I'll take the cold start idle cam off one and remake it to get a bit more idle on choke, it makes the problem less apparent, as you then tend to idle on the main jet more, not the idle jet. I think the cold start running problem is the fault of the idle jet, rather than the main jet.

I've not had icing with mine, perhaps that's just luck. I've had vapour lock on one, but that was due to someone fitting an inline fuel filter (you know, the plastic ones) next to the carb.

If you're fitting an inline fuel filter, the correct place for it is by the tank, not by the carb! Fitting it next to the carb not only causes grit to pass through the fuel pump, which isn't a particularly good idea, but also causes vapour lock on long runs.

Alex

I agree! In the end I left the choke disconnected on mine! I've got a hand throttle. The best technique I found was to dance about on the pedal for a few seconds to get the engine running, and then set a nice high idle on the hand throttle. This seems to work better than any choke usage and avoid icing up to a certain extent...

When I wasn't running an inline filter for a while, I found that using the choke had an amazing ability to clog up the idle jet, something to do with the increased fuel flow I think, though where the crap kept on appearing from I don't know?!

in article snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com, Alex at snipped-for-privacy@cbmsys.co.uk wrote on 20/9/04 10:52 pm:

Bruce doesn't get on with computers so when he wants some info he gets me to find it for him and I just print off the results.

Calls them conversation killers...although he has to admit they have their uses!

I've had quite a few conversations via computer, but I do see his point. And a friend of mine did once send an email to his wife on the other side of the room.

We have a hell of a lot of that at work. People who sit next to each other will e-mail rather than simply look across the 3 feet that separate them. I asked why they do it. The answer was "Proof". The department they work in is subject to a large of back stabbing, so by e-mailing they have proof that they raised the issue, and that it was read, rather than a forgotten conversation.....

-- Simon Isaacs

Peterborough 4x4 Club Vice Chairman, Newsletter Editor and Webmaster (how much more....)

3.5V8 100" Hybrid, now LPG converted Part owner of 1976 S3 LWT, Fully restored, ready for sale! Make me an offer! Suzuki SJ410 (Fiancée's) 3" lift kit fitted, body shell now restored and mounted on chassis, waiting on a windscreen and MOT Series 3 88" Rolling chassis...what to do next 1993 200 TDi Discovery (the Pug 106 is dead, long live the Pug)

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