as for leather fuel system parts go ..
my 1975 mercedes 240D  diesel injection pump had a leather diaphragm thing
on it ..
I put on a new one ..wasn't too hard ........engine ran another 5 to 10 %
better.

I was surprised all right ..a leather fuel system part.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Felder" <jim.felder@GMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Friday, October 15, 2010 1:20 PM
Subject: Re: Friday NVC: British Carburettor hilarity

The SU may have been the only carburetor in the world at the time with
leather parts.

Jim

On Fri, Oct 15, 2010 at 3:16 PM, neil n <musomuso@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> 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
>
>
>