On Fri, Oct 15, 2010 at 12:51 PM, Jim Felder <jim.felder@gmail.com> wrote:

> The SU was a very clever and efficient design but there was a lot that
> could go wrong with them. The Stombergs were bad news with their
> rubber diaphrams and such. Most US mechanics screwed all of them up
> when they first got their hands on them, and of course being
> manufactured in Britain they wore out prematurely. I never learned
> anything about a solex carburetor, even out of all the bugs and buses
> I had, because nothing ever went wrong with them and I never took one
> apart that I can recall. But when it did, you could grab another one
> and tune by ear and go.
>
> I was called on to balance multiple solexes on friends' Squareback and
> Notchback VWs, but being out of balance was hardly ever the problem.
> It is for one of these that I'm hanging on to my Unisyn : )
>

Those Solex carbs rocked. Simple. On my Bugs all I ever needed to do with
them is clean and sometimes replace the accelerator pump diaphragm (and
gaskets) Easy stuff.

The SU's on the 145 weren't totally foreign to me after staring for a while
at a Haynes image or two. I can see how some North American mechanics could
mess them up. That piston/needle setup probably looked like science fiction
to some.   http://www.forgasarteknik.se/SU-hif6.JPG

Neil.

--
Neil Nicholson '81 VanaJetta 2.0 "Jaco"

http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/

http://groups.google.com/group/vanagons-with-vw-inline-4-cylinder-gas-engines