For simplicity, it's hard to beat that Weber. Is it the 32/36 DGV? That's a downdraft progressive 2bbl, I have one on my Alpine. Though similar, it's a much better carb than the Holley/Weber.

There are a number of manifolds on the market that fit the 2.3 and that will use the Weber, or a sidedraft DCOE Weber, or even two of them. But there's something to be said for making your own and using something unusual.

When I was racing mini-stocks, the hot setup was 4 Mikuni snowmobile carbs with a Honda 750/4 throttle cable to actuate them. I ran them for a season on my 2.0 and the smoothness, throttle repsonse and power was amazing. Yet it was docile enough for the street as well. Not to mention they looked really cool!

 

Yup, that looks "cool" alright! I guess I will have to dig out that Weber and have a look at it; it has been stored for awhile, so its condition is suspect. And it is a progressive downdraft, so I guess it will be the 32/36 DVG series. One never knows what will be found in an old carb. I understand the rebuild kits are likely worth one of my pension cheques!

We'll see...

 

I am curious as to what problem cannot be cured with EFI but can be cured with a carb? No offense, but if the EFI system is working properly it will out perform a carb in any day to day driving situation, and in my 33 years of earning my living as a professional mechanic, EFI wil run longer between problems than a carb.

Carbs are not dynamicly adjustable for air density nor air temp. You simply cannot work around this issue in a day to day driver with a carb.

Even the high performance engines of the sixties used a Hilborne fuel injection setup. Performance piston powered airplanes have used fuel injection for years. Sorry.. carbs are dead! And may they rest in peace. I enjoy working on new stuff so much better.

At least my opinion! David

 

Amen to that!

 

Well, could be. I read the article in MM&FF. and there indeed two sides to this debate. At the moment, I have an injector that won't work properly, and I can't fix it with a screwdriver, and the local NAPA wants $145 for a new one. Then I am faced with the guessing game of which injector is it; I suppose there is an expensive piece of equipment that I can buy to tell me that. Or I can buy a full set... you do the math...

Meantime, I can buy an overhaul kit for any of the carbs I have here (except maybe the Weber) for under $60.

Because I am a pensioner, and because I CAN work with carbs, I will opt for the carb thank you very much. I was there when the Hilborn stuff came out, and I was no more impressed then than I am now. I was getting both performance AND mileage out of SUs then; but I wasn't drag racing either, so maybe that lets me out of the loop here.

We'll see...

 

It is telling you what the problem is. A $30 scanner or a trip to Autozone to have the code read for free is all you need.

You would be suprised how simple EFI can be.

 

So, if I read this right, the scanner will tell me which injector is toast? Okay, that would help. The $30 scanner is $50 up here, and I have no idea what "Autozone" is, never seen it up here.

Ah, the problems of being outside the USA equipment sphere. Easy enough for you, but it's is not the same all over the planet.

Also, I was looking through other 2.3 specs and found that the advertised horsepower varied from 85hp to 91hp on carbs. I can only assume that the model of carb made for the discrepancies...

 

Sorry, you didnt mention where you live. Autozone is a parts store down here. You just walk in and tell them you have a check engine light, and they will take a scanner to your car and scan it, then print out a slip that tells you the code, and what it means. Im sure there is someplace in your area that would do the same.

Pulling the plugs and checking them should tell you if an injector is spraying too much or too little fuel. Then you just replace the fauly injector.

As for scanners, look on ebay and find one that will do what you need it to. You can get them pretty cheap. Try searching with "obd2 scanner ford". I paid a lot more than $30 for mine, but it does real-time scans of all sensors while the engine is running or driving. Its just a matter of what or how many features you need it to do.

 

To find out which injector is bad if you unplug the wire you can tell which one is bad by the difference in how the engine runs. It's a lot easier to find out which injector is bad then swap to a carb. Also cheaper then converting to a carb.

 

Thats an even better idea than mine

 

TLyttle - I can understand about the pensioner income. My thoughts are with you on that one. Seems like things just get more expensive - at a higher rate than ever. I have watched my mom over the last five years slowly go broke on her pension.

David

 

Good idea. Sometimes with the newer electronic systems people still forget that the basic three* things are still needed for a engine to run. Compression (all four cylinders in this case) - spark (again all four cylinders) - fuel (and again on all four cylinders) - at least on all four to run properly!

*Unless of course you are working on a diesel

If a injector is dead it can be found by disconnecting a individual unit (as mentioned), or one at a time grounding out the spark plug leads in order. If a injector is dirty, then they can be cleaned, here in the Seattle area it runs about $25-$40 per injector to ultrasonicly clean / provide new seals.

How many miles are on your truck TLyittle ?

David

 

NAPA or Canadian Tire should have obd-II scanners... I don't know how much you'll pay for the service but I know you can buy a new scanner from them for around 200$ cnd

 

OBD-II scanners are more expensive than OBD-I scanners, but let's not forget the great price equalizer...the Internet! You should be able to find one on the 'Net as cheap as you're gonna get, no matter where you are.

 

You can NOT carb your truck unless you swap in an 88 or earlier engine. The 89 and later engines have different intake ports and wont allow for the normal 2.3 carb manifolds. So unless you plan some Major Fabrication, or an engine swap, Your SOL.