Weber or not

[adamcb]

I am the fairly new owner of a 1972 Karmann Ghia and have been spending the last month or so fixing things that shouldn't have been broken (such as putting disc brakes back on the front of the car where someone replaced them with drums... among many others). Anyway, I was able to drive the car this past weekend for the first time and started considering performance upgrades. In the long term I plan to purchase (or build) a larger engine with at least 150hp but for now I'm with the 50 or so hp the car came with. The car currently has the single carb (solex I believe) and I have been considering purchasing Webers but I wanted to get other people opinions since I'm new to the aircooled world. I have found some 40IDF and 44IDF conversion kits (WK317 and WK319) and am curious as to whether this is the way to go.

Any opinions or recommendations?

Thanks!

[sactojesse]

With your stock 1600 DP, your best bet would be to run dual Weber 40 IDFs or dual Dellorto 36 DRLAs, which can net you 10+ hp and improve fuel economy. 44 IDFs are too big for your application. I wouldn't run them on anything smaller than a 1915.
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1966 Karmann-Ghia convertible

[c21darrel]

and an extractor exhaust... 150 HP gets expensive fast.
Heres more bolt on info to explore
http://www.aircooled.net/vw-performance-easy-mods-bolt-on/

[retrowagen]

It should be borne in mind that if you're switching to dual carburettors from the stock single Solex, you'll also need to buy a different distributor, throttle linkage, air cleaners, etc. to make it all work. And monkey with jetting and synchronization somewhat so drivability is decent, and you don't return 15 mpg.

The project does snowball a bit. Many have thought, "OK, all I have to do is bolt on two carburetors, then my car will run awesome, and be faster!" But to do it properly, so that it isn't a constant source of frustration in daily use, the cost of the carburetor kit is only the tip of the iceberg.
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Dave

[ovghiaguy]

x2 on what retro wagen said. I just finished a mock up on my 2054 with weber IDF 40's on engine stand. Even with dual port tins alot of fitting work must be done, and it's best if engine is out to do it. Don't get me started on the crappy quality of aftermarket tins available. Nothing is as easy as the advertisers claim.

[adamcb]

Is there any advantage to buying the 40 IDF weber kit from one place over another? I've seen the prices from around $500 to $900 for the kit.

I plan to get the magna spark digital around the same time and possibly the extractor header with dual quiet pack mufflers... Unless the GT style exhausts flows well (I prefer the look of it).

I will eventually build a larger engine and switch these parts over.

Thanks!

[ovghiaguy]

I got mine from aircooled.net and had them do a pre-dial in for my elevation.... sea level. should be close without alot of jetting.