240 General: "We don't do carbs"

[jmz]

how odd! I've just contacted a Volvo specialist in Skipton who has an advert in the VOC mag to see if they could take a look at my carb problem and they said they 'ooh we don't do carbs'!!

Why would that be, surely any mechanic worth their salt should be able to find their way around a Pierburg or a Stromburg???

[wooble]

Diagnosing and tuning a carb is very much a dying art - I don't know nearly enough about it myself, and I worked as a professional mechanic for two years! In that time, the number of carbed cars I worked on could be counted on both hands. It's simply not taught to those coming into the trade anymore, as the number of carbed cars on the road is a very small percentage now, and decreasing every year. What you need to find is an independent garage operator who's been in the trade for many years, and cut his teeth in the days when tuning carbs was a vital part of being a mechanic.

[loki_the_glt]

Probably the best solution is to look in the classic car mags - there must be Stromberg/SU/Pierburg specialists out there, but Solex Cisac carbs are probably best recycled as paperweights if the articles on the forum are any guide.

Or buy a Gunsons Colourtune and a generic Haynes guide to Carburettors as a starting point.

For sidedraught carbs a replacement diaphragm, needle and jet are usually all that are needed, plus ATF or engine oil for the dashpot.

[Clifford Pope]

There is an excellent website here:

http://www.buckeyetriumphs.org/techn...bsI/CarbsI.htm


It is devoted to Triumph straight 6s, but all Strombergs are basically the same, and this gives a very detailed breakdown on how to dismantle, overhaul and set up.
Gower-Lee are good on needles, jets, etc.