[DeTomaso] Webers

[Will Kooiman]

Sorry - long.

 

The Houston crowd knows I recently put Webers on my car.  I thought I'd post
my initial impressions to the realbig list.

 

I had my engine apart for maintenance.  Sometimes I create excuses to do
engine work, so don't worry about the excuse this time.

 

While the engine was out, I snagged a Hall/Weber intake for A3 heads (on
ebay).  You don't see the A3 version of the Weber intake very often.  Sure,
you can modify a 4V version, but why bother when you can get one already
made for your heads.  Inglese lists this intake, but I've called them
before.  Just because it's listed, that doesn't mean they have one sitting
on a shelf.

 

Webers were not planned - not at this time.  It just happened.

 

I reinstalled the engine with 3 major changes.  Webers.  A larger camshaft.
A gear drive.

 

I ended up yanking the gear drive and the larger camshaft.  I removed the
gear drive because it was too loud for me.  I removed the larger camshaft
because I finally decided that both desktop dyno and desktop Dan-O were
right.  The smaller camshaft would make more power.   (desktop Dan-O = Dan
Jones).

 

The smaller camshaft is the CompCams 282S.  The larger is the 294S.  I
didn't have enough compression for the 294S.

 

So. the only difference was the Webers.  That's nice.  It should provide a
good comparison.

 

The pre-Weber configuration was an A331 Roush intake for A3 heads.  It
pulled strong and got 19mpg.  No problems whatsoever.  I loved it, but to be
honest it was boring. I still have it in case I get tired of the Webers.

 

The Weber configuration is nearly box-stock (if you can call Webers box
stock).  The Webers are brand new.  I believe they're made in Spain using
the original tooling.  Webers come with 37MM chokes.  I switched to 40MM
chokes.  I didn't change anything else.  I didn't even set the floats.  I
left the idle screws at 2 full turns out.

 

The fuel pressure was just under 7psi.  That's with the recommended Carter
fuel pump.  It's supposed to be 4-5psi.  I need to install a regulator.

 

I bought a linkage kit that was made for a 351C.  It didn't work worth a
damn.  It had a bell crank in the center that pushed one carburetor open.
That carburetor was connected to the diagonally opposite carburetor with a
rod.  The front carburetor was connected to the rear (on both sides).  The
concept is okay, but the left-right rod interfered with the bellcrank.
Another problem was the leverage on the bell crank.  My gas pedal was harder
to push than my clutch.

 

I replaced the center mounted bell crank with a new one mounted over the
driver's valve cover.  The new bell crank has several holes so the leverage
can be adjusted.  It's easy to push the pedal now, but there's too much
travel.  I'll get to linkage nirvana eventually.

 

My next linkage change will be a dual-bell-crank that sits in the center of
the intake.  Here's a link to a pic:
http://www.piercemanifolds.com/Images/Catalog/99024.246.jpg.  This bell
crank will eliminate the left-right rod.

 

I bought a sync tool when I bought the carburetors.  The tool sits in the
velocity stacks (one at a time) and measures the amount of air being sucked.
Syncing the carbs isn't difficult, but when you adjust one, it affects the
rest.  It doesn't affect their settings, but it affects the idle speed which
affects the amount of air pulled.   So, you make an adjustment, and then
check all the carbs.  Make another and check 'em all, etc.  Even with all
the setting/checking, you can sync all the carbs in about 5 minutes.  It's
really pretty easy with the sync tool.

 

The Webers smoothed out the idle a lot.  It doesn't lope as much (which I
miss), but I like the smoothness.  My wife commented that it sounded and
looked better.  Mind you, she didn't know what made it look better.  She
didn't point to the Webers and say, "Hey you got rid of that big round air
filter."  She just said that it looked a lot nicer.  Yes - I've got a
keeper.

 

The Webers have a deeper tone while cruising down the road.  You can hear
the individual pipes better.  That might sound ridiculous, but I don't know
any other way to describe it.  Remember when you were a teenager and you
"flipped the breather over" in your dad's car?  It would make that WAHHHHH
sound - loud bass, but you couldn't hear the individual pipes.  It's not
like that.  With the Webers, it sounds more like 2 or 3 Harleys on your back
bumper - or maybe 10 clones of Barry White singing "POTATO POTATO POTATO".
Yes, I know BW is dead.

 

The A/F gauge is about 2 ticks on the "Rich" side of the gauge.  This gauge
doesn't have numbers, just lean/good/rich.

 

I drove it to BBORR.  It was about 500 miles.  I got 14MPG.  I miss 19MPG.
It'll get better once I start tuning the Webers.  They're probably way rich.

 

I ran w/out air filters.  I know - stupid.  I couldn't find any filters
before BBORR.  I have time now, so I'll figure something out.

 

I cut the decklid the day before Kirby's garage warming party.  I cut all
the way across, sort of.  It's hard to describe.  I need to take pics.  It
looks pretty good, even though I'm not really finished with it.  One of the
Pantera guys said, "You didn't have to cut your decklid?"  I said, "No.  For
some reason they fit my decklid."  Eventually he called BS, and I had to
show him where it was cut.

 

The surprise?  No issues.  No popping.  No flat spots.  No bogs.  It pulls
hard - just like before.  I know it's too rich, but it runs great.

 

The other surprise?  I DNF'ed at BBORR.  I made it 2.5 miles.  My #3 piston
is in chunks.  I'm thinking about making jewelry.  The most likely cause is
sucking junk through the non-filtered Webers.  I haven't pulled the engine
yet, so I can't guess any better than that.

 

You'll have to wait for installment 2 of "The Weber Files".  It'll be a
while since I only have 7 good cylinders.

 

Will.