Solex carb on a 73 2.0

[Jeff Nelson]

I recently broke a promise that I would only buy a 914 with stock induction. What I got is a '73 2.0L that's got an aftermarket carb. It is a single carb on a manifold that was modified for the 3 stud Porsche heads. I think that the carb is a Solex 34XE. It bears a strong resemblance to one pictured in an ad for Red Lion (in SoCal) from a January '87 Hot VWs magazine.

Does anyone have any info wrt this setup? It runs ok today but I'd like to have enough info to keep it running well. Also, I'd be interested in opinions on this carb. I know all the arguments around FI vs carb so that need not be repeated. It runs kind of lumpy at idle and it previously had dual Webers. For this reasons I suspect that it may have a cam timed for carbs. Thanks.

[Conrad W Peden]

Is it a progressive carb? Two barrels, one smaller than the other, and the small one opens when the large one is at about 3/4 throttle.

If so say bye-bye. I had this carb on my '72 and the accelerator pump got a hole in the diaphram. Good luck finding a diaphram for it. These thing seem to be obsolete. And if a single two barrel carb was good enough for these engines Porsche would have put one on them not two(1.8's?)or FI.

If you want to go FI get it. If you don't, I have been using dual Dellortos for ten years with no trouble. As soon as I put these on my car and got them jetted and adjusted properly the car seemed to have twice as much power alot higher into the revs.

[Joe Bob]

Conrad is right...either go back to FI or get some dual Webers or Dells. That single is worse than useless....

Just my $.02.

They make good paper weights though...^)

[Germain]

Hello,
I was looking into carbs for my 73 2.0, and I got a couple questions since everyones taking about them.
1) Right now the 2.0 is stock, I plan on building it up, after I remove all the rust from the car, so should I leave the stock F.I. on for now and get a carb when the build up occurs? Or should I get the carb knowing that its money well spent because I will see a performance increase on my stock 2.0 once the carb is tuned?

2) Where can I get info and pricing on the Dell carbs? Should I look into 40, 44, or 48's?

Thats all, thank you for all the help.

[halbl]

My son's vw bus has a 914 2.0 with the single progressive carb and freeway flyer tranny. Works fine at mid RPM but has a few flat spots at lower RPM. Flat out, it seems to guzzle gas. We are going to something like compufire but not desparate. Carbs?, no need to go more than 40s. Most listers say "do the Math". We have a 914 with Euro pistons and Weber 40s, and get around 25 MPG, with low profile tires. But we are mounting 185-65s on another set of wheels to go to Hot Springs. Hope to bring the cruising RPM down from 3500 to around 2600. Everything is a trade-off when the mods start.

[Rouser]

Germain, stick with the original F.I.

I've seen sane people put revolvers to their foreheads wondering why they EVER changed from F.I. to carbs.

I purchased from a PO a converted dual 44 Weber-equipped '73 914. It's my daily driver, and those 2 carbs back there can sometimes act like 40-year-old whores; they just don't want to get along!

They'll scream like squealing pigs when finally "in-sync", but let one of them suddenly become tempermental, and the party's over, bud.

A well-maintained F.I. system is more sanity-encouraging than a pair of jealous chorus girls.