I just picked up a 74' 2.0 and I got a few questions. We bought this thing as non-running. It runs....but it's real rough. What can you tell me about this carb setup that came installed? We have the factory carbs as well but it came with this carb setup installed. They appear to be brand new and looks like the PO never got the car to run right with this carb setup installed.





Should there be a vacuum hose coming off the carb? There's a port for it but no hose has been run.

We pulled the plugs and all of them were in rough shape...#4 especially. Cylinder #4 has a timesert on the spark plug threads and looked to be drenched in fuel. The rest were just old and worn out (and none of them matched...had 4 different plugs in there, lol)

We also did a valve adjustment. Wow were those out of spec. One of the intake valves had almost .120" of clearance. So we got all the valves within spec and tomorrow will be putting in the new plugs. Hoping to get this 2.0 running smoothly!

The breather hoses seem to be cracked at the ports.


Any other recommendations on what to do/check to get it running proper would be great. Thanks 914world! Great community, glad to be a part of it!

Somebody with more technical knowledge in this area will answer I'm sure, but as an FYI, your car did not come from the factory with carbs, it was fuel injected.

The single carb setup will never be good. The biggest problem is the intake runners are way too long and the fuel doesn't stay atomized well, so it will never be smooth or efficient.

Hopefully you have everything you need to get the duals set up. It was fuel injected from the factory, not carbed. But odds are converting back to FI will be more challenging now as there are a lot of parts that are probably long gone.

Can you tell what kind the other carbs are? Dellorto or Weber are the most common. Do you have the linkage for them? Any idea what size they are? 40s would be nice. Any info about the fuel pump? The factory fuel pump would put out way too much pressure for a carb setup (like 30psi instead of 5psi), so hopefully the PO put a proper pump on.

Thanks for the response guys.

The other carbs that we have are Webers and yes the linkage is there. I do not know the size of them, I'll check that out tomorrow. No info about the fuel pump either, I'll have to take a look at that as well.

Only 1.8 non US cars had factory (Solex) carbs as far as I know.


/Lars S

Wow there are a number of issues base on the photos and what you wrote.

There are a number of warning signs to this engine that should tell you don't assume anything is correct or working. The paper under the coil mount and someone cutting the top engine tin on the passengers side says to me that a number of short cuts were taken. Take this into account during you trouble shooting.

I would check the compression on all cylinders. If it is low across them or one is very low then you won't make any progress.

Next check the points, cap, and wires. Sounds like you have started that. Verify that you have spark on on 4 plugs.

Next pull the existing carb if you are wanting to work with it and clean all of the jets and check the float level. Check for debris in the carb and filters.

I saw a pressure regulator for the fuel lins close to the cut tin. After you verify the fuel pump make sure this is set at no more than 3 lbs.

If you pass all of these then you will be ready to start fighting the single carb battle.

First, welcome to the world. Now let's get down to business.

Although the progressive carb it's not the best set up, I have tuned several that run just fine. I drove mine with one on it from Tulsa to san Diego and back with no problems. 3400 miles and 30 plus mpg. the vacuum port should be plugged. Replace the cracked hoses. The Weber website has instructions on adjusting the carb. The new coils are loose in the clamps. They need to be shimmed, but I use a piece of rubber or thick gasket paper. Can't imagine why anyone would cut the tin there but it must be replaced. The car will over heat quickly if left that way



I do see a lot of wires that may not be needed. Someone has done some terrible things to that car.

Thanks for the responses guys.

The fuel pump is made for "any 4 or 6 cylinder carb'd engines" (says the sticker).

The tin must have been cut to gain access to fix the spark plug threads..talk about hack-job.

Spark is there, verified on all 4 cylinders. No compression tester, so we'll have to do without that for now.

We got a timing light today and will be adjusting the timing and also new spark plugs will be going in. We'll see if she runs any better. I'll keep this thread updated!

No reason to hack tin to get at spark plugs. No doubt about hack job, but hopefully you get this thing purring. You came to the right place for info. Good luck.

Bad news, but good news.


Bad news: It idles. It runs, but only makes 30 horsepower on a good day. There's no power.

Good news: this 2.0 is getting dropped out and swapped with a JDM EJ20 we have lying around.