40 or 45 DCOE Weber on 1.3 engine

[Doug Brown]

Hi - don't know if anyone has done this before, but it looks like you can modify the FI inlet manifold from a 90-93 so that it will take a 40 or 45 DCOE Weber (both have the same external dimensions). It should fit on the head of a 88-89 carb car - yes?

You cut off a couple of the aluminum castings that held on some of the FI parts and then cut open the side were the throttle body fit. You have to weld up or make a press fit plug for where the injectors fit into the manifold.

A guy on E-Bay is selling water jet cut aluminum weld on mounting bases for $30 - that would be the real simple way to go. Thread the holes on the mounting base then weld the base onto a piece of 1/4 to 3/8" thick aluminum then cut out the two throttle bores and smooth them. This piece then gets welded onto the throttle body area.

The Weber clears the valve cover ok, but you will have to make a "bump" on the hood for clearance of the top of the Weber. You might want to extend the bump forward towards the grill so you could make up a cold air box and air filter.

The throttle arm on the Weber rotates forward - towards the radiator - so you can probably use the existing throttle cable with some minor mods.

The project is not finished - it is just in the rough mock-up stage to see if things would fit.

I'm just doing it for fun from some left over parts. Mine car is a 1990 FI.

If the photos don't load, I'll happily send them to someone who can get them to load!!! I'm not a whizz in attaching photos! NOTE: There are 4 more pictures I couldn't get to load.

[KingFish]

That looks very cool. Hope you see the project thru! And More pics!!

[greywolf200]

I'm interested in a cool carb setup and was wondering how modifying a FI manifold would work. I'll be very interested in how your project turns out.

[Festevil3]

Intresting project, good luck and keep us updated with plenty of pictures

[2xclutchin]

Can't wait to see this progress!

[Doug Brown]

OK, here are all the pictures to date. They are labeled and you can sort of figure out the order they really belong in.

http://s1307.beta.photobucket.com/user/dk9betts/library/

Additional notes/info:

The valve cover can't be removed without removing Weber or upper half of manifold.

You can see from the pictures how much the top of the Weber sticks up - hence you need a bump in the hood. If you have a fiberglass hood this would be pretty easy to do. You might be able to find a hood that has a "bump" on it in the junk yard - I can remember seeing them. You could then just cut it out and fit it into your hood and weld or rivet (easy way to do it) in place.

However, you can also buy a piece of 3" x 6" x 1/4" rectangular tubing and fasten it vertically to just the lower part of the manifold. That will move the Weber back about 4" and may give enough clearance so you don't need a bump in the hood. However I don't think the airflow would be nearly as good as using the FI upper manifold with it's very curvy runners.

The Weber adaptor plate isn't in any of the pictures - haven't bought one yet!!!

No plugs in injector holes yet. I may just have them welded up when everything else gets welded.

The little threaded pads are still in place for the bracket that helps support the weight of the manifold. These may have to be changed - to be determined. The one inside the manfold (it's visible) is going to be ground out. The bottom of the manifold will need a small weld build up to re-inforce that area.

The factory castings are actually pretty smooth and the inside of the runners should clean up very well with a flexible shaft sanding drum or similar. There is/was a company in SoCal that would injected a toothpaste like media with sand grit in it under pressure through manifold runners to both slightly port them and smooth them. Might be a way to go.

Excuse the mess in the shop!!!!

At the moment it looks like the finished manifold project will be in the $100-$125 range depending on the cost of the welding. Everything you see that I have done was done with a saber saw and a mini grinder. Obviously if you have a mill things will come out much smoother and can be done much faster!

Drop me a note if you have any questions/comments/suggestions. I'm glad you're finding this project interesting!

[Doug Brown]

The missing letters in the address are:

user/dk9betts

The whole thing is: http://s1307.beta.photobucket.com/us...betts/library/

[sketchman]

Looks great. Finish it and run it.