Weber 32/36 - Looking for suggestions

[bluespider262]

Anyone running a DFEV on a 2.0L motor w/ an 1800 intake? What does your jetting look like?

My current setup:

Carb is "new" rebuilt Holley 5100 from a 2.0L '73 Ford Capri Auto. I went this direction because it was < $100 vs. several hundred for an EMPI or Weber version of the same thing. Current jets, confirmed by visual inspection, are:

Idle 55/55
Main 145/175
Air 180/160

My idle mix is 2.5 out, idle screw is 1 turn or less @ 900 rpm once warm. Timing is 10BTDC (now that my timing pointer is oriented correctly - it was at 5BTC before when it was flipped around by PO.) Cam timing is dead on. Definitely no leaks at the intake or carb base - passed the carb cleaner spray test with no fluctuation in idle. Vac advance is hooked up to the carb port. Float height and drop confirmed. Power valve holds tight if I push it down then keep my finger on the hole on the cover. I previously had a problem with a really rusty gas tank but that had been resolved last weekend. None of the junk made it into the carb as I had two upstream filters. Fuel PSI is steady at 3.5 now (w/ the dirty tank it would drop to 0 and I couldn't go over ~ 40mph.)

So it idles fine, accelerates off a stop through the first few gears just fine, cruises at city/highway speeds just fine up to 60mph which the fastest I've tried so far, and anything involving the secondary seems fine as well.

If I try to give it gas off cruise in 3rd gear or higher, there is a hesitation where it seems to either lose power for a second and then catch (if I gave it a little throttle) or it just kind of sits there and does nothing if I gave it a lot of throttle (but still not enough throttle to move the secondary throttle blades.) My problem area seems is definitely in the primary as I can feel through the pedal when the secondary starts to open, and I get these symptoms well before that point. If I do give it full throttle on a cruise of say 40mph, there is usually a pretty small hesitation and then it takes off like mad.

So far I've tried 55 and 60 idle jets, although one weird thing I noticed is that my 60, which came from my stock ADHA carb's secondary idle, is definitely smaller than the 55 idles that came with the new carb. At one point I put the 60 in the primary just to verify it runs different/worse, and that seemed to be the case. With the 60 I needed to open up the mix about two more turns vs. the 55, RPMs would hunt at idle, and not real smooth or steady running. Is it unusual to have a discrepancy like this where a bigger # jet is clearly smaller than one step below it? So anyways, the 55 is back in there now. The secondary has a 55 as well, and they do seem to be the same size - both larger than the 60 from my old carb.

On the mains, the carb came with a 145, but I've also tried a 125 I had from the old ADHA. That definitely seemed to make the hesitation worse - It will do it snapping the throttle at idle then, and its really prolonged - almost like its going to die - before it catches back up. I didn't even bother road testing it because the throttle snaps sitting in the garage were so bad with that jet.

So at this point I'm guessing I need to either (a) increase the main pri. jet to 145 and maybe eventually 150, or probably less likely (b) go up a bit on the idle (i.e. a real 60 and not this weird, smaller 60 I have on hand.) Does this seem reasonable? I was hoping to hear what others that have done a 32/36 swap are running for jets just to confirm where the car seems to want me to go with the tuning.

Thanks for any advice anyone can give me.

[bradartigue]

You won't find a whole lot of rejetting from a stock DFEV. Most 1800s and 2000s will use the DFEV right out of the box; rejets for the 1608, 1592, and 1438 are typically just a smaller idle jet. Check your jetting against what redline or one of the Weber dealers sell as stock for a DFEV, pay attention to the emulsion tubes as well. Start there, get it jetted to stock.

[vandor]

IIRC the primary main jet on a stock DFEV is a 137.
You may be rich with a 145. The hesitation may be an over rich condition from the large main jet and the accelerator pump.