Volvo 240's and those wonderful carbs.

Hi,
I've recently bought a 1987 Volvo 240 auto estate and I could use some advice on changing the Carb. I've a B230K engine fitted with (I Belive) a Solex carb. The reason for changing, apart from the normal reasons, is that the car just keeps coughing when driving. the Techometer dives to near zero before poping back up to normal. So after some internet research and a bit of fault finding I decieded the carb must go. So I've got a new carb but its from a 740 with a B230K engine. Can anyone advise me on how to fit the pierburg carb in place of the old Solex one. I'm mechanically minded but there are enough differences to make me stop and ask some advice. One other thing. Attached to the inlet manifold is a rather makeshift pipe that leads to what I thought may be a transmission pipe. However I'm also wondering if this could be some kind of EGR system. Does it really need to be there. You see the peirburg carb is still attached to the manifold and it would make it a lot easier to change the whole thing rather than just the carb.
Thanks.

Ian,
If your tacho behaves as described you almost certainly have an ignition problem not carb. If you have not already done so visit www.brickboard.com and look under the features menu for their 700/900 FAQ section for the EZK ignition system, yours works the same as this. Just ignore the references to the fuel injection system.
It would seem you are losing intermittently either the supply to the coil or it is not receiving a firing signal from the ECU via the power stage (the rev counter takes its signal from the negative coil terminal not direct from the ECU)
Best of luck, these intermittent faults can be hard to track down!
I have not gone into greater detail at this stage, but you can E-Mail me if you need more details.
Colin.

[Clifford Pope]

The pipe you describe is certainly for EGR. It re-routes exhaust gas back into the inlet manifold under certain conditions. There is also another pipe system which re-routes air into the exhaust manifold.
I don't know whether either really needs to be there, but if they are, they certainly need to be working, as both are a fruitful cause of popping, misfiring, spluttering, difficult starting, etc.
Each has various valves and sensors in tow, and experimentation with my B230 certainly shows that every bit must be working, and the pipes themselves not leaking or having exhaust blowing out.
Some expert will be able to comment on whether the whole system could just be abandonded and the holes blanked off, and whether this would a) run and b) still pass the emissions tests.