anyone remember NIKKI brand carbs?

[steveo3002]

back in the 80s when they had those big mail order catalogs , the car spares section had nikki twin choke carbs to fit all the popular shite of the day

 

did anyone have one ?   any good?   i recall they had a glass panel on the side to see the fuel lol

[xtriple]

They were always advertised in the car mags as well. Seem to recall that a lot of VW Beetles had them fitted, supposed to be good I think?

[sierraman]

Japanese IIRC. I think, could be wrong, but they were fitted to the Datsun 240Z.

[hpi_matrix]

The glass thing is cool!

 

[steveo3002]

hah yeah thats it ....

[twosmoke300]

Check the float level visually - awesome !

[spartacus]

I had a Mazda with one of those on.

[dean36014]

I remember fitting one to my first car, mk1 escort 1300. I seem to recollect it made not a scrap of difference to performance, but it did come from a scrapyard.

[eddyramrod]

There was one fitted on my Polonez when I got it, and my dad had a Polly with the standard carb.  If there was any difference, it was minimal, but I always remember Nikkis had a good reputation.

[Dead_E23]

I'd be surprised if swapping the carb did make much of a difference to power output on its own, as long as the original wasn't a complete disaster.  

 

Combining it with big (or more) valves and a funny camshaft would be more likely to have some effect (even if it's only an engine that won't idle properly or pass the MOT!)

[martc]

Nikki are still alive and kicking making CNG systems for Bosch and electronic control modules etc. No mention of replacement carbs for old chod though.

 

see https://www.nikkinet.co.jp/english/

[garethj]

I had one on a Beetle, it gave the impression of more power because the first choke was tiny and when the second one was cracked open it felt much quicker.  A bit like having a knackered vacuum advance on your distributor and driving most of the time on the flat spot then the car suddenly takes off when the revs go up.

 

I believe most of the advantage was in economy as usually you could pootle around on the little choke.  Performance wasn't much of a boost if I remember right.

 

If we're going down memory lane I think Reece Fish carbs were supposed to be better.

[Pillock]

A lot of VW folk raved about Nikki carbs as the stock Solex could be a pig to set up so it was an easy fix for fuelling issues.

[Bren]

IIRC even the motoring section of the littlewoods catalogue had nikki carbs.

[Guest Hooli]

Littlewoods did more than an underwear section?

[nisfan]

I've got one on my bluebird and maybe the stanza, I'm sure they are similar to hitachi carbs

[Uncle Jimmy]

240Z used Hitachi carbs, copies of SU. I have a few Nikki carbs, they were fitted to all sorts of Jap cars in the 70s and used for similar applications to Weber carbs. Crude but reliable and an effective way to grab a bit more power output.

[Uncle Jimmy]

Reece Fish were the choice on Beetles; would often ice up though! Well worth looking into Mr Fish's carbs, ingenious design.

[Pete-M]

There was a carburettor shop near me back in the 1980s 'Carburettors Unlimited', I'm pretty sure they were the Nikki importers for a while in the early 80s. For a good few years every Cortina Mk5 and Mk3 Escort in the Liverpool area Auto Trader which didn't have a Weber seemed to be equipped with a Nikki carb which allegedly 'just needed setting up'. The bloody things never, ever appeared to work properly in my experience but there would always be someone saying how good they were. Possibly because they'd used a Nikki to replace a Ford VV and even spraying the fuel directly into the inlet manifold with a super squirter is impressive in comparison to a VV.

[tooSavvy]

The 1.3 Toyyo Corolla (I bought the Haynes BOL cos there isn't one for ToMM©) has a carb with a horizontal dashpot [el S.U.] and about 247 more parts

 

TS

[Faker]

Nikki carbs were popular on bikes. They also made a twin 40 copy which were fitted on some old school hot Celicas.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

25-30 years ago I had a 1275GT with a Nikki. Fitting the correct 1 1/2 inch SU improved the performance and economy no end. Nikki carbs were advertised in general catalogues in the seventies.