Chinese 34ADF Thread

[bradartigue]

I received today a Chinese made 34ADF carburetor I bought on ebay for $169. This is a review of the carburetor from the time I opened the box onward, and I put a blog post up with pictures eventually.

The purchase went smoothly and the carburetor arrived 7 days after I bought it. It was packed very well, with the plastic lids top and bottom and the fuel lines capped.

First impression - it's a damned good copy. It looks and weighs as much as a 34ADF should. The ports are precisely drilled and there are no rough edges or cheap machining marks. Operation of every component is quite smooth, the aluminum seems of good quality, and the throttle linkages, etc., are nice and strong. The choke assembly was a little loose and required a tightening. The carb has the correct ports for a FIAT with a vacuum operated distributor. It has fuel in and fuel return. It has a water choke with two ports. The adjustment screws are where they should be and work smoothly, the choke flap and throttles seem as well made as those on a Weber.

Odd things: no markings on the jets. I have no idea what size these jets are, so we're going to just install it and see. I have a reference for the right jetting of a 34ADF on a 1995cc, so we'll see what we see in a day or two. The throttle base and top of the carb do not match in color.

More as it comes. First reaction, it's much better than what I expected. I'm undoubtedly a Weber snob and I'm not sure I'd want this on my show car, but for a driver, if it works as good as it looks, why not? You could buy two for what the non-ported 34ADFs sell for, and they don't work correctly with electronic ignitions unless you drill them out.

[fiat218]

You have a show car

[bradartigue]

You have a show car

Is that a question or a statement?

[westy64]

Interesting review.
At least you knew that your carb was made in china.
But are there brand new 34ADF made somewhere else ?

I know a man who is importing full pallets of chinese IDF, for the VW market.
First lots where of poor quality, and very quickly quality improved (he taught them what he wanted to pay for), and they now make very good products.
Maybe someone didi the same with the 34 ADF ?

Will you mount this one on a car or did you buy it by curiosity ?

[srwilson]

Hey Brad,

I saw them on eBay too and was curious. I did see that they included the distributor vacuum port! That's nice. Still have not gotten mine tapped yet. Don't know where to get the brass insert. Anyway I'd be interested in your thoughts of the carb after you've had a chance to run it. $169 is hard to beat if it's functions well.

[bradartigue]

I am trying to get it over onto my buddy's 79 this week, he has a DFEV right now (a Spanish Weber). I have to get it to start first, we replaced the head gasket over the weekend and it's acting like its feelings were hurt (I suspect I swapped the distributor wires and was too tired to diagnose it the other day).

More as it develops. It does look nice, in every way. Very solid beast and yes, tapped for the vacuum advance. I can look at it and figure out how its done if you like, as far as the brass tube, buy a small brass pipe at Home Depot and cut the thing. The hole to the barrel can't be more than 2mm, I can measure with some plastic feeler gauges for you. It goes pretty much straight through to the barrel from what I can tell, ending up just below the throttle plate.

[bradartigue]

Pictures and more:

http://www.artigue.com/34adfchina/

[srwilson]

Brad,

Any update on your trial? I'm still interested.

[bradartigue]

Well we couldn't get the car to crank because the ignition pickup wire was frayed, that came in earlier this week and I'm heading back to Louisiana today, so perhaps tomorrow we'll be rolling.

[md88plt]

Several years ago I found a 34ADF on the Internet. It was located in Italy and cost 150.00 US dollars plus 70 dollars for shipping . I installed on 79 spider and could tell very little difference from stock. In my disappointment I decided to install high compression pistons, 1800 cc manifold and a 300 degree intake cam. The car performs somewhat better but not what I am satisfied with. Next is ported head. Will see how that goes.

[bradartigue]

Several years ago I found a 34ADF on the Internet. It was located in Italy and cost 150.00 US dollars plus 70 dollars for shipping . I installed on 79 spider and could tell very little difference from stock. In my disappointment I decided to install high compression pistons, 1800 cc manifold and a 300 degree intake cam. The car performs somewhat better but not what I am satisfied with. Next is ported head. Will see how that goes.

You must have 600 pounds of bricks bolted under the car, or a clogged exhaust.

[narfire]

Weird.
I helped a fellow a number of years ago installing a 34 DMSA and single plane on his 79. Everything else was left stock.
Car was completely different, way more power....

[bradartigue]

Weird.
I helped a fellow a number of years ago installing a 34 DMSA and single plane on his 79. Everything else was left stock.
Car was completely different, way more power....

My brother installed a new 34ADF from a bayless kit - back when you could buy them and marelliplexes new (ah, the good old days) and installed it on the stock (gasp) manifold. The difference in performance was superb, even with that crappy dual-plane thing. When an 1800 manifold was instllaed it increased yet again.

I've never heard of the performance not improving as this is so obvious an area of restriction (81 HP because of the carburetor on a CS2). I'd stop throwing money at that car and start hunting for performance robbing problems, like a bad catalyst or a timing belt off by a tooth or two.

[MrJD]

I should really dyno my car before and after... Be nice to do it stock, + carb, and +carb and manifold.

[md88plt]

Sure