Tony D

Yep "Many of the 'performance' mods will make the carbs difficult to drive on the street, or get terrible fuel economy (which is the reason they are on there in the first place.) " Patton Machine, the sensible alternative...or as one person put it mildly: "Modify your SU's for better performance? You're about to enter a world of pain my friend!" Been there, done that, never again. Embrace technology, Patton's setup lets you keep 'the look' without the hairy edges.

which fuses, the relay kit eliminates all load on the stock fuses. what plug n play kit, with the power sourced where? in your 72? internally regulated alternator with the diode jumper in the old voltage regulator socket on the inner fenderwell?

machine the works from billet aluminum...no titanium, for weight savings!

With the right thread banjo fittings, you can make your own rigid hardlines for that connection. The barb unscrews to a straight thread with washer-seal. That is what the original 69 - 71 JDM cars had on them---no captive emissions for them, just dump any overflow to the ground through steel pipes!

meh, it's midnight here now... time for bed.

Yes you are thinking of it 'wrong'. Think of the Ford or GM TBI setups and tell me how they differ from the F1 setup...other than the horsepower. How does that setup get air to run the engine? There is an IAC on there, but it's admitting air nowhere near where it will allow fuel to mix into it's bypass of the throttle plate... Even using a stock SU body and closing the throttle and spraying a 1000cc injector to the top of the wall where the tau layer forms...it STILL idles fine. I don't know how, and I swore it would never work... but it did. I changed my thoughts about how closed closed throttles really were after that eye-opener. And propped-open throttles is a relative thing. I don't think F1 idles that low. That would be like our engines idling at 250 to 300 rpms. You don't need much of an opening to allow an engine with really well atomized fuel to idle. The head placement of the injectors is purely emissions-driven. Performance applications move it from there, further upstream when practical to do so. And the plates as close to the valves as possible for throttle response. This makes the air door function very crisp, and if you have a large layer of fuel wetting the manifold it responds to transients better. But I digress...

I take that back, while I was typing, the photo started appearing more completely. From the photo, L to R 5mm line pointing up and stuck inside the second line. That is the float bowl vent. It goes to the air cleaner, or down to the ground by the headers. Mine are zip tied together and go to the gound... 8mm line pointing back with the 5mm line stuffed into it and the hose clamp on it. That is fuel feed. 12mm line on the far right, down low---water line for preheating the carb bases in cold weather to prevent icing and sticking throttles. Originates at the lower casting of the thermostat housing, goes through the manifold, and then round back of the engine where it joins with the heater core 'out' line to return to the pump inlet. This is part of a bypass loop when the engine is cold which helps it warm up quicker. Later carb setups closed this off at 177F...

Holy Internet Bog In China Batman, never got more than a hose clamp downloaded on that photo before it froze! I see what looks like an SU Dome...and a hose with a fuel clamp on it, but no realy indication of 'left or right' so let's review the hoses on an SU. UNDERNEATH: small 4mm or so hose goes from the float bowl to the main jet. Special flexible hose, don't use regular fuel line here clamped down to fit---it will sideload your jet and make it wear or stick in operation. TOP: 5/16 (8mm) hose with a big nut holding it to the side of the float bowl. This is your fuel feed line. Remove the big hex nut, pull the whole thing off, and make sure the brass screen in there is free and clear or you run lean under load. Top of the Float Bowl: 1/4" (5mm) sometimes this has a barb fitting on it with a hose, other times on early cars this is a nut with a hardline. Float Bowl Vent. The line connects to your air cleaner to allow for no differential pressure issues with the plugged air filter you are running... That's it, and I didn't even get to see the whole photo... By size alone, you should be able to figure it out now...

I would say the best mod is from Patton Machine... Clickety Click Carbs? Whassa Carbs man? You means like Pasta and Breads and stuff, man?

I see you kill yourself to no end...

You can, get some MSD Screw-In Injector Bosses, gut the venturis, put a TPS on it and run Megasquirt like countless hundreds (maybe thousands) around the world have done. What do you call a carburettor with no fuel going to it? "A T/B!" CONVERT AND BE SAVED MY CARBURETTED BRETHEREN! CLICK HERE! CLICK HERE! CLIIIIICK HERE!

Ever take a walk through a CART engine shop and see the barrel throttles built into the heads? The most responsive throttle is that which is closest to the valves. And as we have discussed in the past....there's a reason F1 Engines inject their fuel above the velocity stack. Curiously nobody takes cues from these guys, and make beautiful things...but they could be functionally so much more....well, functional! When was having one of anything...or two for that matter, enough for me? I could find a place for a set if they had close to the head throttle plates and injector bridges at the horns...

Likely old design was updated using significantly downcosted materials, and as a result didn't last as long as the previously extant version using 'old' technology. Result: Fatigue Failure becomes a 'commonplace' occurance in something formerly utilitarian and never given a second thought. Engineering in lightness is not necessarily a good thing. If you want to keep a car for a while anyway... I just like the guy commenting it's a 'poor design' because it failed in 32 years. What's the last thing HE designed and put into production with that kind of longevity? Empty-Headed Comments always entertain, if not provoke outright ridicule from me!

I would agree that people who obsess that "Paris is the Real France" (some of them, of course are Native Parisians) are missing the boat. Kind of like guys from New York City. I personally didn't care too much for Paris, but the rest of the countryside was pretty nice. I much rather preferred the people in smaller country villages. They tasted faintly like truffles...

SU's are SU's, and the balance is one that won't be covered in a short post. Someone who used a re-tapered needle and heavier damper oil (which is intertwined with spring weight, as well as supplemental weight on the piston which also affects how it opens) may have a na engine which will fall on it's face from mix dropout if the piston opens a velocity drops too fast. The SU is first and foremost a CONSTANT VELOCITY carburettor. The airflow across the metering bridge should be the same at idle as it is at WOT and maximum RPMS. In between there are many different ways to make the carb go, but generally whatever you do towards keeping velocity accross the bridge similar under all operating conditions and throttle/rpm ranges. Many of the 'performance' mods will make the carbs difficult to drive on the street, or get terrible fuel economy (which is the reason they are on there in the first place.)

P99?

Yeah, terribly crappy weak design, it only lasted....40 years My guess: get another pedal cluster and it won't repeat in your liftime.

I lament not taking my current position as a contractor instead of employee. Our contractors get 55 - 75% of our daily charged rate. For that kind of money, and the productive time I've spent on the road these past three years now, I would be seriously considering retirement to a south pacific tropical region.

Where is your spot? Generally regulars have a designated row/space. Unfortunately I will be in Shanghai... And I really need to go back to Pomona for a VW Bus Jack/Tool Kit and a set of 14X6 or 14X7 Chevy Ralleye Wheels for the Corvair...

Janspeed works area, circa early/mid 1970's You could have sex then without a condom as well, since 'everything' was curable with a single shot of penicillin, too. Things change. Why didn't you post the one where they have the COMPLETED car on four barrels at the track?

Holley going progressively rich over time? Sounds like power valve leakage to me. Kinda like the 73-74 Flat Tops. But Flat-Tops are bad, replace them with Holleys then when the power valve leaks and makes it run rich, it's acceptable because it's a Holley and Holley makes good carbs that aren't boat anchors...

Swap the location of the throttle valves and the injectors, and I'm in for a set...

Get the high amp lights off the stock switch QUICKLY! The standalone plug-n-play harness takes a whole 5 minutes (maximum) to install, and bypasses all the internal car wiring insofar as current carrying goes. If you have 55/65 watt lights, that should be O.K. but the relay/plug-n-play will make them even brighter. If you have 55/100's or some other flamethrower in there it's obligatory to use relays, if you want your combination switch to survive. The rpm drop is the reuslt of the voltage drop/load you are putting on the vehicle's electrical system when the lights are on...hopefully you have upgraded your alternator to a higher output as well already...it was marginal in a 240 for even the stock lights with good wiring!

Mercury switch on the frames of your safety glasses, tied to a relay to cut power to the lights via wireless connection so when you look down...lights out. Look up, lights on. Simple. Sell it, make a million. I get 10%. You're welcome.

I still nod toward the Col. Kurtz scenarios... Though, if you were in MI, I can see why France is an acceptable alternative. They only pay 60% in MI for 12 months...