Volumex carbs

[Hamish]

Greetings one and all :lol:
I'm on the lookout for anyone who has fitted a 45 DCOE/DHLA or possibly a 40 DCNF carb to their Volumex engine - there must be a fair few in the UK or abroad surely?
I'm after practical information re. cokes, jets etc etc. Can you help :?: I do have Guy crofts book but there is no substitute for practical experience of the conversion in the 'real' world. :wink:

[Will]

I'm of the opinion (yes, opinion) that a Vx carb should be kept pretty close to stock venturi size unless other mods are made to the engine which warrant a change.
The convoluted inlet tract of a Vx reportedly experiences some difficulty with the puddling of fuel, and it would seem only logical that upping the carb size would be more likely to exacerbate this issue.
On the other hand, were the carb fitted to a sidedraught DCOE or Mikuni (no accelerator pump) then perhaps a larger carb would be feasable.
As far as performance enhancements for the Vx, I'd look at the intake geometry, particularly at the blower itself, there has got to be some room for improvement there!
-Will

[Hamish]

Things have moved on a pace :wink: since my first post re. a carb conversion and I have just received in the post a Guy Croft DCOE/DHLA adapter manifold :twisted:
I will (all things being equal) be producing a report on the conversion once I have all the parts in place :oops: on this website for the general perusal/information of other VX engine users :lol: including jet sizes etc etc used.
Other modifications to the engine have (so far) been restricted to an overdrive pulley to the blower which even on the standard carb has made an appreciable :P 'boost' in performance :mrgreen:

[Will]

Adapting to a DCOE is a pretty straightforward conversion, in your case (if I recall you have a coupe) your biggest concern will be getting enough space for an airbox or plenum around the radiator.
The radiator could theoretically be split in two and 'folded over" itself in the front, that should allow you to use as long a set of horns as you want, although they are not as critical with the Vx as with straight inlet 1 barrel per cyl.tracts.
I'm trying to remember the radiator clearance from my (ex) Beta Spyder,
I'm pretty sure your DCOE will come out the front of the radiator, immediately behind the grille, requiring radiator cutting.
On another car I had, I once used a section of aluminum-finned copper radiant heat from a house I was demolishing, I plumbed it into the heater circuit and used it as an auxiliary radiator, it functioned extremely trick. If you have to cut and solder up a hole in your radiator, you may want to explore something like this as an option.

The other problem will be vibration from the SC, the DCOE is susceptible to frothing in the bowl, this can be cured with a soft nitrile rubber anti-vibration kit (O-rings in a bracket, basically) available from Weber, you'll need this, if you haven't got it already.

Good luck Hamish, I'll look forward to seeing your pictures posted.
-Will

[Will]

Forgot to mention:
I think Stan Ramirez did a 45DCOE with an overdrive pulley on a Vx, you should be able to get the jet sizes directly from him.
-Will

[Hamish]

My cunning :?: plan is to 'play it by ear' and see how I get on - perhaps not the best plan but it's always worked for me so far :!:
But I'm not planning on cutting the radiator - I just had it completely re-cored etc to as new specification :wink:
Instead my plan is to remove the radiator shroud (not a huge area on a VX) and move the radiator forward about 2-3 inches. This will mean modifying the pipes, I'm happy to cut them and insert metal sections to accomodate the extra length.
If I recall there's just :| about enough room to cant the radiator at an angle and move it slightly to the left of the car without compromising the space for the oil cooler :? although it's possible I'll move that behind the radiator instead of in front :idea:
This still won't leave too much space but hopefully enough for me to either duct an air supply from the left of the car which is about the only place left under the bonnet that there's room to do it :P just as Bazza has said elsewhere (look under octane booster) or create a new duct placed roughly where the old manifold and carb were to draw air from the standard airbox assembly :roll: ofcourse a lot depends on the length of the trumpets that get fitted to the carb - something else I have no information on :roll:
As I've said elsewhere this system would have to work first time as the car is my daily 'motor' - even in winter :!: Would be interested to get the jetting information/specifications from Stan Ramirez, how do I get hold of him :?:
We'll see...... I've posted some piccies in my gallery (please have a look!) of the adapter manifold and some other 'stuff' :mrgreen:

[Will]

You can reach Stan on the Lanciascorpion list at yahoogroups.com.
I'll be interested to see how your radiator problem gets solved.
You should be able to get away with very short horns on the Vx- Lancia certainly did!
Getting them out from behind the radiator without cutting will be the trick, I'd guess.
Since I'm going EFI, my blower intake will hang a 90 downward and the throttle body will be inverted just shy of the firewall (montecarlo layout)
I did see once a setup of flanges and pipes that allow a DCOE to hang a 90 degree sideways, this might be a solution, but I had wondered about the different inlet tract lengths- the unit I saw had equal length horns in a common airbox, or course one tract was longer because of the longer sweep radius, I figured maybe since the shorter tube hung a sharper corner, it all worked out. I didn't really get a chance to figure out if it was a production part, it looked it.