15 replies to this topic

[matthewrussell]

Hi,
yes i am a newbie and yes i might be stupid because im asking this question but, I've done 2 years in college in mechanic's and if I'm honest, we dint really learn much about carbs, we did it a few lessons but I was'nt there

one of my friends said to me that you should put a weber on your mini and me being me, I said yeh I will think about it lol I have no idea what a weber carb is and what modifactions I need to do to the car to fit one in ?

I have a classic mini cooper 1275cc that i'm doing as a project and I have also got a rover mini checkmate 998cc :) probs want to fit it to the checkmate.
Thanks

[mini-luke]

No point in fitting a webber to a standard 998, will just make it drink fuel. I do have to ask, what did you learn in your two years if you haven't yet grasped what a carb is?

A weber is a type of carb that won't actually fit without chopping holes in the bulkhead, which can get you in IVA territory.

[Turbo Phil]

Fitting a Weber will not make it drink fuel. Correctly callibrated the carb only supplies what the engine requires. As long as the carb you currently have fitted is not a restriction, simply fitting a different carb will not require the engine to consume more fuel to make the same power, why would it ?
So basically if your current carb isn't a restriction you'll see little or nothing from fiting a Weber.

Phil.

[Mini 360]

I don't see how this is forum feedback or questions related

BUt anyway its not worth fitting to the 998 as it will be overkill for it. The 1275 would be a much better option. However you will need to modify your bulkhead to fit it in. You can buy boxes to enable this.

[dklawson]

The OP's question was...
"What's The Difference Between Having A Carb And A Weber ?"

The answer is... a Weber is a carb, just not a "stock" or original carb. Properly set up... people who install them generally like Webers. However, they can represent a fair investment to purchase and set up. On a street car a properly set up SU will give you more than enough performance and you won't have to invest much with an SU. Though SUs often receive bad reviews it is typically because people start fiddling with them trying to correct problems that lie elsewhere... like in the ignition system. Truth be told, SUs don't frequently "go out of adjustment" or require tinkering.

A lot of people who don't understand SUs feel that the first thing to do when you buy a car that uses them... is replace them with a Weber. Personally I don't see why but it is as much a personal choice as anything else.

[998dave]

I concour with Doug.

I'd say don't bother on the 998, it won't help as there are many other things you could do first before the carb becomes your limiting factor, manifolds, exhaust, air filter and cylinder head all spring to mind (look up a stage 1 kit).
Also, try getting Dave Vizards "How to modify your mini" and have a read through, coupled with your college learning it should explain a lot of the tuning and tweaking options for cheaply improving your mini(s).
The 1275, if you're not running an HIF44 that's where I'd start, and then the list as on the 998 before considering swapping carbs over.

Dave

[matthewrussell]

LOL !!! I forgot to put HS carb lol sorry !!!

And.... like I said they dint learn about them because I wasn't there (broke my back) .

and reason for wanting to swap my carb is because there is something wrong with it so i thought i would have a look into some thing a bit more power.

Edited by matthewrussell, 12 April 2012 - 08:13 PM.

[TA2DMAC]

Best part about an SU is, they don't flood and as long as you have oil in the dashpot and everything properly adjusted, they are pretty much maintenance free.

[jamiestevenbell]

on a standard 1275 you would be better with a set of twin carbs rather than a webber

[Timinichelsea]

A webber on a standard car would have issues as you'd have to use one of those dumb swan neck manifolds which will mess up gas flow. With a decent manifold and set up correctly a webber should be fine.

But for a standard 1275 i'd personally use a HIF44, brilliant thing - i've done thousands of miles on them and never had to do any maintenance. Checked the dashpot oil every now and then but it never needed topping up.

[icklemini]

and reason for wanting to swap my carb is because there is something wrong with it so i thought i would have a look into some thing a bit more power.

Why would fitting a webber give you more power?

Sort the SU out - it'll be fine!

[MiniFTW]

what modifactions I need to do to the car to fit one in ?

Hi there, To fit a webber carb you will have to change the current inlet manifold that you are using with your SU set up, there are a few options for this, there is a swan neck manifold which would allow you to fit the webber without any real modifications to the car its self, the down side to this as these manifolds are more restrictive and may lead to no real increase in power over your current set up considering its an un modified 998cc. On the other hand there is the standard 7" webber manifold that will allow you to better take advantage of the webbers induction abilities, the draw back to this is you will have to modify your bulkhead to allow room for the webber to be seated correctly. The rumors are not true about huge fuel consumption, as said above if it is correctly calibrated there is absolutely no reason why fuel consumption would be increased. On a standard 998cc your current carb should be more than sufficient for a road going car. The main advantage to a webber is that its air flow capabilities are better than some of the bigger SU's I.E the HIF44. On highly modified engines, the characteristics of the webber really come into there game. Where SU carbs may struggle to supply the engine with enough airflow/fuel, the webber is able to do this, hence most high performance mini engines either running a webber style carb or twin carb setups.

[dklawson]

and reason for wanting to swap my carb is because there is something wrong with it

In my first post I mentioned that people often blame SU carbs for problems that lie elsewhere. Make sure your valves are set properly, go through the ignition system and make sure everything is in good order and set properly before any carb work. That applies whether you "fix" your SU carb or fit a Weber.

[matthewrussell]

OK, thanks for the help guys, last question what about bike carbs ? no good on a 998 ?

[dklawson]

I have seen bike carbs fitted to (non-Mini) A-series engines. Most of the people I have seen install them give up at some point and take them back off. However, as Dilligaf said, if you are content to invest in installing them and learning how to adjust them yourself it would be an interesting project.

SIDEBAR: A friend of mine sent me an eBay link to an auction where a person had taken an array of plumbing fittings and adapted a down-draught Solex carb from an air-cooled VW to fit the horizontal intake manifold of a 1500 Spitfire. The thing looked terrible and had to be very flow restricted but he thought this was a great alternative to the Stromberg carbs Triumph used. In short, you can probably make any carb work on your engine but you need to weigh the real benefits against the expense and examine the trade-offs.