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Chinese Carbs


DaveDorson

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Alright Autoshite.

 

So I've decided that I'm going to get my hands on a set of 40 IDF weber clones from deepest darkest China, and see if they're quite as bad as the Internet would have us believe.

 

They're on their way to me now from a "UK Distributor" after they accepted my rather derisory offer for something that that would cost me about £300 to buy if they were 40 year old, worn out, Italian ones.

 

Once they arrive, I'll do some unboxing photo's, disassembly, and re-assembly, then hopefully get them on an engine and fire it up to see how it runs.  That's if I can secure myself a suitable engine to do so :D.

 

So in summary, I've paid good money, for a set of carbs for an engine I don't currently own, in order to see if they're any cop, even though the Internet is jam packed with people saying it's an awful idea.

 

For science...

 

 

 

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I've had bike carbs from China and they have been ok, tbh if the casting and drilling is ok then it's hard to see how they could be any different to the genuine article assuming they aren't made of cheese that distorts with heat.

 

What were you planning on fitting them too? A lot of people saying they are crap on the net probably just chucked them straight on without a thought for jetting etc.

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I've had bike carbs from China and they have been ok, tbh if the casting and drilling is ok then it's hard to see how they could be any different to the genuine article assuming they aren't made of cheese that distorts with heat.

 

What were you planning on fitting them too? A lot of people saying they are crap on the net probably just chucked them straight on without a thought for jetting etc.

 

I'll probably see if I can find a Porsche 914/VW Bay Windows Fuel Injection 1.7 engine.

 

I've always fancied converting one to upright cooling and stuffing it in the back end of a beetle.

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Well done for having a go. I've been looking at Chinese copied carbs for years and wondering how bad they can be... If I had problems with the carb on the Peugeot I'd think about chucking on a Chinese one while I overhauled the original... or I might not need to!

 

My experience of Chinese bicycle parts, audio stuff, guitars, etc is overwhelmingly positive given the price. People like to bad mouth them, but then they did that about Japanese kit in the 70s too. Now old Hondas Datsuns Pioneers and Technicss are classics. There's nothing inherently wrong with Chinese manufacture IMO, the main issue is probably that buying direct rather than through proper old-school dealers the backup is not so good, so quality control becomes more of an issue...

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Great lads, the chinese. They seem to make decent turbos in the pennyless prick price bracket so why not carbs?

 

Im looking forward to this a lot. Just a shame theres not gonna be a REAL McCOYs version for comparison.

 

There might be a chance I can borrow some for comparison.

 

I'm going to do a strip and clean/inspection with a set of jet cleaners and gauges to see if they've got what they say they've got in them.

 

Of course if anyone here has a set of Italian or Spanish IDF's they'd be willing to let me use for comparison, I'm more than happy to use them as "props" and send them back.

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Are you going to try and push boost through them?

 

 

No, I don't really fancy the complication of adding boost and the associated oil feed and drain to something as inherently simple as an air cooled flat 4 engine.

 

I'm going to see if I can modify a CSP upright cooling kit to incorporate an upright installation of the Type IV oil cooler, so I can keep it as a nice tidy unit.  I find external hoses going to coolers and stuff a bit unsightly, as well as adding complexity to removal and refitting of the engine.

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Are original Webers or Dellortos expensive because of exotic materials and engineering, or because scene tax?

 

If the latter, then there's a good chance knockoffs will be fine.

They're expensive because VW people are still scared to adopt EFi and because they don't make them anymore. (Well they make Spanish Weber's, but apparently the Italian ones are better).

 

One of the guys in the VWDRC was making great power out of Empi HMPX carbs which is what I suspect my knock off carbs are with a different name stamped on them.

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Apparently these will arrive this week.

 

Tracking tells me they're sorted for delivery, so lets see what's going to happen.

 

I've also had a chat with a friend over at a place in Kings Cliffe, Northants, who's got a rolling road and a set of Dellorto DRLA 40's that he's rebuilding for a customer's engine.

There's a chance we might even be able to do some comparison, and back to back testing on these.

 

A chance... nothing is set in stone.

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