what carb to swap to (not weber)

[hamburglar]

Hey guys,
I just bought a 88 with a 5-speed and the carb isn't running its best. I was wondering what carb is suitable to swap to? I have looked and can see lots of info on the expensive weber, and some spotty info on other options.....
I also have a EFI car sitting around with the head gasket/head cashed out. Would it be a ridiculous idea to swap out the EFI into the carby (I am assuming tank, computer, wiring......basically a transplant)? The car ran like a top till the headgasket went kaput.


Thanks guys....and yes.....Casper is still sitting around. I bought a 2003 cobra and I work out of state for three weeks a month. So car hobbies are not even at a snail pace anymore....
THanks!

[FestYboy]

fix the EFI car then call up Rocketman and ask that he drill his adapter for an escort carb.

[hamburglar]

EFI car is not getting fixed. At least not by me.
I plan on using the axles out of it and making a parts pile for the 88. The body on the 88 is super cherry.

what year escort carb or aftermarket is suitable for the B3?

[hamburglar]

photo.jpgcheck it out!

[FestYboy]

the escorts seem to go for about the same price.... and not as much aftermarket for tuning.....
might be better off with the weber in the long run

[hamburglar]

oh geez, here is the atomic bomb question...
what is the cheapest/best weber then?

[drddan]

Weber 32/36 is the most common.
The Escorts carbs are late 80's.

[Banana Bonanza]

If you want to super tune it, then Weber DGV or variation such as DGAV or DGEV, is way to go, parts are easily available. If you want something that works ok out of box without rejetting, then the Escort carb is great. Its a Weber 32DFTA carb made under license to Carter, used on 1970's Fiestas and early 80s Escorts. Also used on some older Fiats imported into USA. The Escort carb has slightly different bolt pattern than DGV. Thinking of pattern as rectangle, same width as Weber pattern but slightly shorter. Yes its annoying they didnt use standard Weber patter as its a Weber design. You can get a rebuilt Escort carb on ebay for around $50 or brand new one for around $90 from guy http://stoveboltengineco.com/catalog...=0&sort=normal that bought boatload of them and resells them to people that want to put them as a dual carb setup on old Chevy six engines. You want one from early 1.6L escort engine, not the later 1.9L engine. That would be like 1981 or 1982 or so. Oh the Langdon guy wants to sell them in pairs as he is mainly interested in selling them for the old Chevies, but if you email him, imagine he might sell single one for use with small four cylinder engine.

I am just dealing with this myself cause my Weber needed cleaning/rebuilding and nobody admits my Weber exists. Its DGV but is 26/27 and takes SMALLER bowl gasket. Nobody has this gasket nor admits my carb exists. They claim all smaller bore DGV are 32/36 with chokes (bore inserts) installed. They arent. Mine has a physically smaller bowl and 26/27 is CAST into side of it and at bottom edge. The bowl gasket looks just like one in the 32/36 rebuild kit except its smaller. So ordering some special gasket material and set leather punches to make my own. Rest of 32/36 rebuild kit fits.

I have a spare Escort carb (actually off an even earlier Fiesta from 70s, but same carb as Escort) however I dont want to modify my adapter just to use spare carb temporarily. I have some Holley-Weber 32/36 DGV's from Vegas/Pintos, but they are not jetted properly and again dont want to mess rejetting for temporary use.

One other interesting option I ran across. Seems there is a kit out there to install a single Harley Davidson side draft carb onto a stock downdraft intake manifold on SuZuki Samurai. (look on ebay for cheapest kit, there are more than one out there) Its a cv type carb like a Mikuni used on Japanese motorcycles. So probably could substitute a Mikuni. I have some experience with old SU cv carbs on antique Volvos, but only the dual carb setup was offered on Volvos imported into USA so you get to balance them and its a pain to keep them adjusted and balanced. Elsewhere in world Volvo offered single SU carb setup which is not as powerful but much, much easier to live with since you eliminate the need to balance two carbs. The dual SU carbs were such a pain, I usually ended up converting to single downdraft Weber on the Volvos I owned, used to be an aftermarket manifold to do this. But I would have been happy enough to have converted to a single bigger SU carb if there had been proper manifold available to do it.

What I am saying is look the kit over and you can probably make your own bits and pieces to put a single 40mm to 44mm Mikuni or other cv carb onto a Festiva or any other smaller car engine that has vacuum/mechanical advance distributor. And since Mikuni mounts via rubber connector and hose clamps be fairly easy, even maybe with a FI intake...... Though you would need way to warm manifold for best effect. Its interesting idea anyway. there are some youtube videos with Suzuki Samurai running on the single Harley carb. Owners say it actually lets the stock Samurai actually accelerate unlike original carb fuel system. Samurai engines were always considered way underpowered though they are 1300cc like the Festiva, just not nearly as good of a design as Mazda engine.

[Banana Bonanza]

The Escorts carbs are late 80's.

Early 80s, the late eighties, Escorts had 1.9L and were ALL fuel injected. Actually want specifically the 1981-1985 version for the 1.6L carb engine. Or if you can find one, the 1970s era Fiestas used this exact same carburetor. Fuel injection was introduced on top model version in 1983 and made standard on all versions in 1986. I am not sure if any of the carbs were computer controlled or not. I know for sure the 1981/82 were not computer controlled.

[sc72]

hamburglar, that is a fine looking Festy, we need more pic's, I know your busy, what a tease.

[Rocketman]

I believe my adapter will easily accommodate an Escort carb in addition to the 32/36. I would need very precise flange measurement or if someone wanted to volunteer one for measuring that would help

[hamburglar]

what about an escort carb and passing emissions?
What is a good website to buy a escort carb?
I took off my cat and it was completely toast on the inside. I want to get a carb to make sure it will not fry another cat and replace it. Then I would assume emissions would be a breeze.
But with the feedback carb am I overlooking something with emissions when switching over to a weber/escort carb?