Okay, my wife just got a '73 2.0 FI. The engine has 48,000 and runs perfect. It will be a weekend car and monthly autocrosser. Obviously we want the performance of the dual carbs , but we are concerned with how hard it might be to start up . I have witnessed one taking 30 minutes to start in the cold. We love to turn the ignition to hear the engine crank immediately. Is it possible to tune the carbs that it would crank with relative ease? What are other pros and cons of carb vs. fuel injection?

fuel injection is actually more performance if it's working properly. Mine, however, was crap. I switched to dual solex 40's and haven't looked back since. Couldn't tell ya the difference in power. I can tell you that the car RUNS now...as opposed to whatever you'd call that before I made the change.

If it's running well, DO NOT carb it. Unless you're going to do other engine mods, the carbs will do nothing for you other than make a neat noise. I had a 74 2.0 that I had carbed while doing some other engine work. I ran it that way for 2 years, untill I wanted to trade it for a 914-6. I put the original fuel injection back on, and the car ran much better than it ever did with the carbs. I've had that 914-6 since then, so I love Weber carbs, but the fuel injection is simply better for a stock engine.

Nowadays, the fuel injection system on a 914 is a pretty simple system, and quite bulletproof as long as you keep the conections clean.

If the car is running properly now, don't fix it! Everyone says that the cam was designed for use with the FI and that you may lose performance if you change over. In my case, I could never get the FI to idle at a reasonable speed...it was way too high. I also looked at the wiring to the injectors and the general appearance of the FI on my 1.8 and it gave me no confidence. I decided that to me the most important thing would be reliability and the ability to fix it if it out on me. So I switched out to dual weber 40's that I bought on evilbay. One carb has been giving me problems backfiring and spitting through the carb. So I've spent a fair amount of time playing with the carbs. The engine runs fairly well with the carbs and starts very quickly though pretty rough until it warms up some. I guess the term is pick your poison. good luck!

another sucker falls prey to bad advertising ...

unless you pry open the motor and change the stock cam to a carb-friendly cam you will *not* gain a single HP from a dual carb conversion.
in fact, you're most likely to lose HP and as you said, you can kiss your instant cold start good bye ...

the *only* way to get more HP out of carbs is with a more agressive cam.

the stock fuel injection, if in good working condition, is superior to carbs ...
Andy

I have carbs. They (usually- see other threads) perform well. My car has 280,000 miles on it.
You have fuel injection. It performs well. Your car has FORTY-EIGHT-THOUSAND miles on it. Please swap with me. I'll keep it FI.

Most complaint from FI is it could be "problematic", but I don't think that is your situation. I don't think you should change it either. Sorry.

put on a header and fab your own cold air intake -- that's about as good as it's gonna get.

No... Keep it stock. Carb when you modify

O.K. Lets state the facts.....


THOMAS beat with his carbed, stock camed 1.7, a suby conv. at an A/X and Linda's car with a stock cam got 49.16 MPG, where are the pit-falls of converting to carbs.
:PERMAGRIN: Joe

Come on Joe! How are we to keep up the campaign of misinformation if you keep bringing up such useless things as facts. Lets face it. If he keeps his DJet it will be better for the economy. He will constantly be trying to actually make it run. That takes money and that keeps the economy humming!

how many % of modern cars come with carbs? why go through the hassle of using a electronic FI if carbs are so superior?

you tell me, i'm listening ...
Andy

PS: i *never* said carbs don't work on a stock engine. but they are *NOT* a bolt-on performance improvement. that simply is not true ...

I'm waithing for the challenge. Someone tell me that they can get anywere near the mileage I claim and meet me in a mileage challage with fuel injection that works on a 914.
There it is, Howard saw the mileage that Linda's car gets and Thomas's car with it's 34 PICT's does better.
I've talked to Linda about going out to do MGP testing for a weekend and she is up for it. We can use the 5 near Stockston, as it is long and flat. I think she can reach 55 MPG. Pump up the tires and go slow.
Any way carbs are old tech and so is D-Jet. I will run D-Jet on my car but not something that I want to run everyday.
:PERMAGRIN: Joe

Here we go again.

I love my webers, it starts, hot or cold right away but I had to put in EI for it

to start like that. If your FI works well then add a header maybe a Mallory dizzy

and run it. When you have to rebuild it and still want to run carbs then put in

a cam ground for carbs (I hear Jake has a nice one) and maybe some head

work. That day will come soon enough.

Awesome...thanks for the advice. So I can take the $1,000 and spend it on headers, air intake, etc. What about a cam after that? Does a cam still yield a good power gain with FI?

Witha 9550 cam you can get into the 110-115hp range keeping the stock FI.

Fuel injection will allow you to stay in Stock class.
If you prep a 914 to Stock class rules it will be pretty damn fast.

Set of Fuchs with Kumho V700 Ecsta or V-racers Koni's and a weltmiester front bar and you are set. and a Tangerine EVO header.

Ooh Ooh... I know, I know...

Now that I have carbs... I spend alot more time driving the car, rather than watching tv...

wait, is that a pit-fall?

You can run the Mallory with the FI? Don't you have to mod it have trigger points?