[Dave at Pelican Parts]

The common consensus on which carb to use is Webers. I don't know why, if they're easier to re-jet or tinker on, or if they're cheaper, or what. I'm not into carbs.

Common consensus is that on a stock or slightly-modified 2.0, the 40s are enough and the 44s are too much. I would think that 44s would be serious overkill for a 1.7, and probably would never run right. As a point of reference, the Porsche factory put Solex 38s (might have been 36es, but I think it was 38s) on the Euro-spec (high-compression) 1.8 914.

However, 44s or even 48s would be more appropriate for the 2.7 monster you are contemplating. The 40s would almost certainly not be able to feed that big a motor.

I have a friend with a 200 HP 2.05-liter 914 motor. He uses Weber 48s, and runs over 7000 RPM most of the time. I seem to remember that his car doesn't really idle at all, though.

You can talk to a lot of people on the carbs and cams issues. Web-cam would be a good place to talk about cams, most likely. Pelican sells their products, so perhaps Wayne and Tom have some ideas.

--DD