Cold start air intake

[Grundo Farb]

Hello,

on my VX the ducting which draws air off the exhaust into the air intake manifold has fallen off and I sem to remember some sort of damper arrangement on the inlet which switches between the hot and cold sources based on some sort of lever mechanism. Unfortuately the 'damper' does not seem to be there any more and the mechanism to do it also does not appear to be there.

Am I imagining what used to be there? And should I just reconnect the hose???

[Gregory Smith]

It's likely there was a thermostatically controlled flap there, to provide warm air during warmup and cool air for running. Unless you need it for some sort of emissions inspection, forget about it.

For optimum power you would want to provide a duct ensuring cool air only, not general engine bay air which can be very hot. This will slightly lengthen warmup times but not by much.

[Pope1]

I got rid of mine altogether and noticed an immediate performance improvement. Not huge and nothing to do with temperature in my case, just a less restricted flow of air into the engine. Can't comment on the issue of warm-up time in a temperate climate though as the only time it isn't warm here (in Barbados) is when its baking hot.

[Grundo Farb]

Yes, thats exactly the problem, in summer its fine but now its winter over here it takes ages to warm up enough and it behaves terribly (stalling backfiring, no power) until it warms up (which is about the length of time it takes to get to work...)

Just keen to do something to keep it happy in winter.

[Pope1]

A couple of things spring to mind:

1. Get hold of an original thermo-static flap from a Beta being scrapped and just use it in the winter.

2. Look for a more modern non-Lancia car where you can buy a similar part new. Then modify your intake so that you can fit and remove a section of ducting with the thermo-flap within it.

[Gregory Smith]

Well if it's warmer air you want, you could simply run a new metal hose from the air filter housing to the exhaust heat collector, and block off the cold side of the (now missing) valve. If you get awarm spell you can always reverse it, that is block off the heat side and so on.

[Maigret]

I assume you live further than walking distance to work so the car should be well warmed up before you get there.

With my VX the choke shuts off about 1km from home.

How many kms does it take to get the temp gauge off cold?

Possible solutions.
New thermostat. If jammed half way will slow heating up and cause overheating. To check. Start from cold, hold the smaller bypass line and you should feel it heat up. The line to the radiator should stay cold until the engine is warm. This system is superior to the in head thermostats as it keeps a full flow of water around the engine even when cold.

Another thing to check. The NZ unleaded is thicker than the leaded fuel so many cars require rejetting of the carbs as they have a tendency to run lean on unleaded. It was a common problem with Toyota vans and Falcons. We had to get the ones in our vehicle fleet rejetted and they ran much smoother afterwards

[Will]

IIRC the Volumexes also have a temperature-activated air valve embedded in the carb body that opens a vacuum servo-controlled valve and lets coolant flow to preheat the inlet manifold.
Probably worth checking this system too as there's a lot of plumbing that can fail there.

-Will