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solex triple downdraft carbs on 164?

242Bleek

242Bleek

k-jet groupie
Joined
Jul 18, 2005
Location
Brooksville/Tampa, FL
I am in the midst of converting a 164 over to carbs, before I get the whole shpeil about how d-jet is superior to carbs in every way please know that this car is a roach, every wire in the car is rotten or spliced or hacked in some way and it runs awful because of this. I just want to get this car running properly and for the owner so he can enjoy it and it will be reliable. I cant seem to find any original stromberg carbs that originally came on 164's but I do see alot of the triple solex manifold/carb setups for a reasonable price. I heard something about this intake manifold interfering with the 164 exhaust manifolds, I dont mind modifying that to fit.

My big concern is function wise, why should I not use these carbs and what would need to be modified for them to work as they came on a marine application? Thanks
 
Which triple Solex arrangement are you referring to? I don't care for how many 'converted' cars with carbs end up bruning to the ground!

I'm also not fond of D-Jet but would encourage you to give it MegaSquirt for modern engine management.
 
My understanding is that the boat carbs are designed/set up to run at more or less constant throttle, and will be a likely disappointment in an automotive application. The AQ171 carbs I had were certainly quite primitive, and very difficult to get enthused about.

B30B twin carb manifolds have integral exhaust & intake manifolds (like a 140 B20A/B)
The B30E D-jet motors have seperate intake and exhaust manifolds (like a B20E).

If its just about keeping a beater mobile and you cant find a stock twin Stromberg set-up, I'd look at replacing the D-jet throttle body with an adaptor plate and a 350 Holley or something. Cheap, easy and effective. There are many 'better' options, but they all seem to inevitably overcapitalise the car.

I'm pretty sure that most of the performance increase (carbs to D-jet) is due to the injected cars' better manifolds, extra compression ratio and bigger cam - I'd expect a carbed B30E to outperform a stock B30B.
 
I've been running dual down-draught Solex's for about two years now. Hard to start in the winter, car constantly smells of gas and not the best fuel mileage. Other than that, no complaints. I say do it.
 
Spac said:
My understanding is that the boat carbs are designed/set up to run at more or less constant throttle, and will be a likely disappointment in an automotive application.
Click to expand...

I'll agree on this. And add the Strombergs to the list of most crappy carbs ever made, so I wouldn't even suggest to rebuild a set before I found something else.

What WILL work, and are more readily available is a set of SU HIF6 carbs that can make a B30 fly. Just use an un-modified set from a B20B, using the stock BAL needles will run circles around Strom's, be reliable and hold a tune.
I have converted a few B30B's from Stroms to SU's and never had a bad result.
 
Spac said:
My understanding is that the boat carbs are designed/set up to run at more or less constant throttle, and will be a likely disappointment in an automotive application. The AQ171 carbs I had were certainly quite primitive, and very difficult to get enthused about.

B30B twin carb manifolds have integral exhaust & intake manifolds (like a 140 B20A/B)
The B30E D-jet motors have seperate intake and exhaust manifolds (like a B20E).

If its just about keeping a beater mobile and you cant find a stock twin Stromberg set-up, I'd look at replacing the D-jet throttle body with an adaptor plate and a 350 Holley or something. Cheap, easy and effective. There are many 'better' options, but they all seem to inevitably overcapitalise the car.

I'm pretty sure that most of the performance increase (carbs to D-jet) is due to the injected cars' better manifolds, extra compression ratio and bigger cam - I'd expect a carbed B30E to outperform a stock B30B.
Click to expand...

I do like the idea of using the same manifold and adapting a holley of some sort, has anyone ever done this? Do they make an adapter?
 
i'll agree with pete , the hif6s on a b30 are way better than the strongbregs. the manifold still sucks .

the triple marine down manifold will not clear either auto exhaust manifold.

i have seen a b30 FI manifold with a Holley 4 barrel adapted to it , were the throttle body normally goes. just gotta weld a Holley riser/flange to the manifold. i'm been thinking of doing this for a while , my 10 year hunt for the allusive aq160 triple side draft setup has not been fruitful.
 
fidel said:
i'll agree with pete , the hif6s on a b30 are way better than the strongbregs. the manifold still sucks .

the triple marine down manifold will not clear either auto exhaust manifold.

i have seen a b30 FI manifold with a Holley 4 barrel adapted to it , were the throttle body normally goes. just gotta weld a Holley riser/flange to the manifold. i'm been thinking of doing this for a while , my 10 year hunt for the allusive aq160 triple side draft setup has not been fruitful.
Click to expand...

I dont have a tig welder so the holley is out of the question I guess. Couldnt the triple downdraft marine carbs manifold fit with some cutting/grinding? I mean, i've seen it done before.
 
For the SUs, You need the factory twin carb (Stromberg) manifold.
The Strombergs are basically interchangeable with SUs - same basic concept, just that the SU has a better design.
 
Well im a little late posting this, but for anyone interested I finally finished the conversion. It does work very well and can be done. They really sound great and throttle response is excellent even on such a worn out turd of a motor as this one. This is a great option for anyone who wants the sound and performance of triple carbs on the cheap.

Here you are...



 
Its just the triple Solex 44 PAI down draft carbs that came on the AQ171. Uses the original boat carb hat which clears the hood just fine. Had to do quite a bit of clearanceing on the stock manifolds to make it go. If you want to do this conversion I would highly advise against using the stock manifolds and get some sort of header that will give you good clearance.
 
That air cleaner looks great...that really a boat piece?

Wish my car was older, really liking that B30 for some odd reason :)
 
If you rotate the positive battery terminal a little more you will see what a burning carb conversion looks like first hand.

If there is no hold down on the battery this event may happen sooner than if you rotate the terminal!
 
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