Starving Solex Carb

well guys, I replace my Carter YF with a Solex carb.. The replacement wasn't as what some say, replace the old carb and drop the new solex and no problem...Well, let me say that the reason for replacing the carter is because the throttle shaft seem a little loose.. I've had the carb rebuild several times and the rough idle was still present...Now the new carb I bought had no instructions, but as much information posted here, I kind of worked around it on installing it...I new some things weren't going to be a match as the carter; like the cables routing and especially the fuel line lining up with the new carb..After replacing the new carb I new that the startup was going to take several cranks before the carb received fuel..After the carb received fuel it fired up and sound it like it ran smooth, but as soon as it started for about maybe 5-8 seconds it died....I tried it several times and the same thing...Now as I read through the post forums it sounds like it could be the fuel pump..But how can this be?.. :? ..Well I new it was running with the old carb no problem, plenty of fuel being push to the carb...but I still don't understand why it appears that the new carb starves for fuel....What I noticed is that the new fuel line might be a little tight curve on it to reach the fuel line...I don't know if this could be a problem why the carb starves for fuel...Here a a few picture for you to see...

Thank you for viewing this post and replying in advance..

 

My Solex requires a lot of choke (more so than the Carter) until it really warms up. Actually, the Solex has sort of a "reverse choke" where it adds more fuel rather than choking the air. Fiddle with the choke and see if it makes a difference. Also, I was able to bend and persuade my steel fuel line into submission.

 

Thanks Stout, I'll try that with the choke...regarding the fuel line you had to bend and line up, on the pictures you can see there is about 1" difference for lining up to the carb..that's why I had made the blue fuel line.

 

The fuel line runs parallel with the hard vacuum line and has some clips that keep them together. I was able to undo the clip and bend it up, so the fuel line begins to bend up sooner and then bend it into submission. I'll get photos for you. Your flex line works and there's nothing really wrong with it, I was just saying that it is possible to use the same line if you wanted to.

 

Remove the gas line from the solex and turn engine over to see if you are pumping gas.
When starting with the solex, stay off the gas pedal till it starts. [cold start-pull out choke till starts]
You only need 1 1/2 to 2 lbs fuel pressure for the solex.
Replaced my original carb with a solex 2 years ago, and like it much better.

 

In september I replaced my carb with a Solex for pretty much the same reasons. I also installed a fuel pressure regulator and set it at 2 psi. I start it on full choke but also notice that it often takes several tries before it will keep running. I plan to hook up the manual throttle again because it seems to help if I give it a little gas during the warm up. Once warm, it idles OK but seems to stumble a bit when I start moving. It also won't hit the same top speed that it did with the other carb. I just replaced the points and have yet to check the dwell and timing so that may help a bit.

Tim

 

One thing I noticed, and it's not a carb issue, but a battery one, if the battery on mine has a full charge, she starts right up, but being it slightly colder required more choke till the engine fully warms.

(Solex, carb, 12 volt conversion, electronic distributor, and LC starter conversion).

While the stock carb worked, there just seemed to be more people singing the praises of the Solex.

 

Thank you all of you for your help...sorry I haven't post any replies back, I was out for several days..

All replies are great..
blevisay The reason I do not want to cut the steel fuel line at the moment is because if I can't get this carb running, I'll have to revert back to the old carb, and probably end up buying a rebuilt one...The choke or the cold start cable is not hooked up yet, but I manually brought it back towards the fire wall when trying to start it up..but yes I did pump the pedal instead of letting start without pumping the pedal..

Stout my fuel pump does not have the vacuum oulets.. when I replaced the fuel pump I bought one without the vacuum gadgets..

tcfeet I'll do that to make sure I have enough fuel going through the fuel line to the carb..

timjuhl thanks I'll keep the fuel regulator in mine and see what happens...until now, I would like to trouble shoot the carb with minimum upgrades or addons...I'll also keep in mine the start ups when cold...The coldest it gets out here is only 48*-50* at night..Day time 60's*- 75*..

long & low My battery should be fully charged...but I wouldn't count that idea out yet either...

Once again thank you all for your replies and viewing this post..

 

Well guys, Today is Thanksgiving Day..!!....Happy Thanksgivings to all of you!.. I finally got my solex carb to run...It took several attempts and as you all said, it is a very cold carb to get going.....but we got it going....Thanks to all you for for your advice ......oh BTW, one more question, there are two screws on the solex for adjustments. Does anyone know what adjusts what..??

Thanks again...

 

Glad you got it going. I dont know anything about the solex, never even heard of it until I joined this site, but was following this thread and glad its going.. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

 

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Looks good to me.R)

 

Look's pretty good, nice bend to the fuel line to accommodate the carb..

 

Surprised that no paperwork or instructions came with your new Solex.

Here's a few pubs that will help:
http://www.traction-owners.co.uk/tech/Brochures/Solex/Solex PB.pdf
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...HZTw5PTRmUkEDsEVA&sig2=7TeS6nKpCCucU13loN2kvg

 

Yup, it was ship in a box wrapped in a plastic bag and that's it!....plus some other stuff I had ordered with it...but no instructions at all...

 

Assuming the float isn't stuck.
http://www.vw-resource.com/34pict3.html#carb
The beautiful thing about the Solex is it (or variants of it) is the stock carb on VW's.
When in doubt, hit the aircooled forums.

 

Thanks for the links jeepdaddy.. I'll be checking them out. I'm sure i'll find them useful..

 

I have 2 questions... When you pull the choke or the fuel enrichment cable to start the engine, at what rpms should it be running at. Question 2'. When taking off on 1st and 2nd gears, it seem to have a hesitation then run okay.