OK, I am sure this has been discussed a bunch in the past. Myself, like others are looking for PERFORMANCE! Here is the twist to the whole thing. Driveability!! I love the driveability of the stock carb. Easy to start, pull out the choke ****, etc. It never bogs or really acts up. Stock carb drives nice.

Now for the aftermarket carbs. What REAL performance gains did you get going to an aftermarket carb?

Did the aftermarket carb have any driveability issues you did not like? Bogging, hard to start, poor performance at low RPM's, high fuel consumption, etc.

Any changes you made that were really disappointing? Tell us about success stories as well.

What brands? Difficulty of installation?

Let's start a new thread to clear up a lot of questions.

Thanks!

 

Sterling car is what I run. No problems at all with starting or driveability. Probably the cheapest of all options too. Performance rocks, just check out my videos linked at the bottom in my signature line.

The stock carb, stripped of all unecessary BS and modified with mechanical secondaries can also do very well, just ask ManinBlack because he's running my old carb. But when it comes down to all out performance, the Sterling just breathes a lot more than the stock carb can. The difference is like breathing through both nostrils as opposed to only one nostril.



.

 

i've always heard great things about the sterling, i currently have my stripped nikki, with mech secondaries and i just love it, i really like the secondaries, and i had a buddy who swore on the webber but i drove his car and it just wasn't as fun for some reason.

 

I have a Weber 45 DCOE on a stock motor with a RB 2 pipe header. and the car starts well , runs well. just a little bit of stuble if I'm cruising at lower rpms.
the car pulled a 125hp at 5200 rpm and 114 ftlbs. torque at 5200 rpm to the wheels on a mustang dyno. plus it sounds good at full throttle.

 

All this is great stuff guys....keep it coming.
You know i wonder if my secondaries are slow to open. When I take off in 1st gear it pulls fairly good....nothing special and 2nd pulls good until 6500 RPM. At 6500 RPM in 2nd the engine changes tempo and it REALLY starts pulling harder. Then 3rd and 4th pull great.

Do you think my secondaries are just partially opening in 1st and then partially opening in 2nd until they open fully at 6500 RPM???

 

Weber 45 DCOE with 40mm venturis.

Easy to start, cold or hot, even without a choke. Excellent midrange and top-end. Somewhat poor low-end due to the huge venturis, but there's still plenty there once you learn not to just floor it from 1500 RPM.

Tuning takes a while to get right because there's just so much you can do with it. Mine still isn't tuned right (need some richer idle jets and accel. pump jets), but it has the capability to be just as smooth as the stock carb.

Kind of a PITA to get on and off with the RB wrap-around manifold. If I had to do it over again I'd get a 48 IDA instead.

 

Woo...Dellorto!

 

I have an SK Racing carburetor on my 12A, (167,000 miles). It is a Weber 45 sidedraft clone. Exhaust manifold is stock, have main cat and a muffler, maybe aftermarket, not sure. Without a choke it starts okay as long as I keep the rpms up for about a minute or so. Driveability is excellent. Smooth acceleration no hesitation or any complaints. The power curve flattens out around 6000 rpm, but don't know if it is carb related or old motor related, or other. I'm open to opinions, maybe pm me so I don't hijack the thread.

 

i take it you have vacuum secs. i never really drove it like that, well for a day or two but never floored it, it seems a bit slow tho, you should really look into mech secondaries man, you can open them up whenever you feel like it of course if rpm is too low it'll bog down just a bit until the speed catches up then you feel the pull, you wont feel this bog in 1st and 2nd but if you do it in 4th or 5th you'll feel the bog, either way all you have to do is shift down and you're good to go..its like holding a switch to a bomb.

 

Yes I do have the vacuum secondaries still. I kinda like the way vacuum secondaries "should" work. I am wondering if my vacuum secondary diaphram is either leaking a little or just hard and slow to respond from only being 28 years old!!!

 

Keep it coming guys...this is good info. Sounds like you guys with the sidedrafts really like them. How 'bout you guys with the Holleys.....how are they doing for you?

Also tell us more about performance gains stock vs. aftermarket?? Was the kits really worth the money?

Also, how 'bout you guys with modded stock carbs....what did you do?? Do these modded stockers "hang" with the aftermarket carbs??

Thanks for all the good info!!!

 

If they work properly, vacuum secondaries are cool. I was running a vacuum-secondary Hitachi in my (now Jeff20B's) GLC, and the transition was so smooth that you couldn't really tell when it happened.

 

woo dual 40mm dellos

 

wow far more stockers than expected

 

45 dcoe weber on a mild streetport S5 with full RB SP exhaust, and direct fire MSD. Sounds great, looks great. cold start basically only occurs when i pull the choke, and i cant floor it off the line, but when im the carbs range of power2-7k 2nd 3rd gear its quick. If i too could do it all over again i would get a 48ida. I have 2 48 dcoes i just need to rebuild them and then ill try that out. Im also outa tune. Have a wideband but havent installed it yet.

 

One thing I forgot to mention that I really love about Webers/Dellortos: changing jets is SO FREAKING EASY! On the DCOE it's just a wingnut on top of the carb, unscrew the jets, put the new ones in, put the cover back on, and you're done. No draining the float bowls, no taking the carb half apart, just a simple 60 second procedure that only requires a flathead screwdriver.

 

Dude, did you just accuse him of having Vacuum Sex?

 

Dellorto on RB two piece intake on a stock port 12A with 100k on it. The exhaust is a RE system; headers into two large bullets into a turbo muffler. Also have a 2GDFIS ignition installed. Waaay better than the stock setup. Takes a bit to get it tuned just right but now it pulls fine from idl on up to 7k. If you floor it down low it will bog a bit but no bucking or sputtering.

I have the auto choke hooked up so to start cold I just pull the choke and forget it. It pops back in once its warmed up. Gets 17 city 25 highway unless I keep my foot in it a lot then it can drop to about 15.

One thing about my car is that its very quiet at idle. At meets a lot of times its running but no one can tell until they get real close. Thats a function of the exhaust setup more than anything.

 

hahaha you got me, honestly what kind of sex you prefer, one you have to wait a bit, or one you can make it happen when you're in the mood? haha

 

Stripped and mech secondaries Nikki. Good carb, and when you hit the secondaries it really feels good.

Had a Holley 600, that was an OK carb. Rather have a nikki over that though, just didn't seem as powerful.

OER 45 was probably the best carb. Never got it to run right, got bad MPG, something was wrong with the tuning, even after $200 in jet changes. Got it nailed down pretty good after a while (still not perfect)... sounds AWESOME when floored and really rips tarmac.

 

Stripped Nikki. Still has choke. It runs like an EFI car I think.

I had Weber 45 DCOE and it just seemed like too much for the stock port motor. It had an 1800 RPM idle, it was LOUD!!!, it drank fuel, it stumbled when doing a hard shift into the next gear (shifting to 2nd or 3rd at 6500 RPM), it was a total pain to start, and it fouled out while driving and idling.

It felt like it was making great power when it wasn't fouling out or stumbling. You just can't beat the reliability of the Nikki though. There's a reason why Mazda put them on from the factory.

 

If it was having those types of problems, it wasn't tuned right.

 

You know one of the great things about the Nikki is it starts and runs great. Does not seem to stumble or act bad....like was said earlier....like EFI.
I have a friend who is about to put an RB intake and 465 Holley on his car. I was wondering if anyone has this setup and what they thought about it!!

Keep the posts coming and be sure to include pics. Thanks!

 

I played with the adjustment screws, fuel pressure, spark plugs, idle screw etc all day long for 2 weeks and could never get it running the way I wanted. I then put on the out of tune Nikki, 2nd gen plugs, and turned the fuel pressure to 2 PSI. It started up even with it being out of tune and with a few turns of a couple screws it was running just like my FC with a smooth 800 RPM idle. No hick ups in the power band.

 

Jets, man, jets. If your jet sizes are totally off, it will never run right. I know this from experience.