Stick with Zenith carbs?

[William Crowell]

My 356 engine consists of a 912 crankcase with "C" heads and crankshaft.

Bearing in mind that it would be rather expensive to switch to different carburetors, do you think I'll get reasonable performance from the Zeniths?

[Sebastian Gaeta]

Yes, I have the same setup on my C coupe and years ago I asked Vic Skirmants if he could build me a set of Solex's and after a discussion he convinced me to get a set of Zeniths since sub 6k RPM the performance was virtually equal to Solex's.

They perform great and stay in tune, I rebuilt them over this winter after 17 years and 60,000 miles and I am sure they will be good to go once again for another 17 years.
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Sebastian Gaeta

'63 Beetle Turkis
‘64 Karmann Ghia Coupe Manilagelb/Black Roof
'64 356C cabriolet Signalrot
'65 356C coupe Rubinrot
'66 Single Cab Velvet Green
'67 Karmann Ghia convertible Heliosblau

[RolandD]

I realize off topic, but not really. I put ONE Zenith 32ndix on a 350 Chevy in a 1 ton Grumman Kurbmaster. WE are beekeepers, and need the ability to pull from an idle off road, and handle off camber..

Roland

[wdfifteen]

[William Crowell]

LOL, I don't know what cam is in it, and since it is a good runner I don't want to split the crankcase to find out. You're right, wdfifteen, performance at lower RPMs is always the issue.

[wdfifteen]

Since you are dealing with an unknown quantity cam-wise, I would go with Zeniths. Zeniths paired with a 912 cam is not ideal, but it's a better combination than Solexes and a C or Super cam.

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If you take off the front timing cover you can see if it has a stamping on the cam face ....or you can take off 1/2 head and #2 cylinder and rotate the engine and see if there is a stamping inbetween the lobes on the camshaft.....you don't really have to split the whole engine apart ....

[William Crowell]

I went through the file on my B-model and found that I bought a "C" cam from Johnson Pacific Porsche-Audi of Oakland in 1978. Lukes and Shorman in Albany, CA rebuilt the engine at that time. It was my main driver and I drove the heck out of it and wore that engine out after many years. Now it's got a rebuild on it from the late Frank Lettini of Frank's Foreign Auto Repair in Sacramento that has a few miles on it, but seems to run well. So I still have that "C" cam from 1978, and from what you guys say it should run fairly well with the Zeniths.

[wdfifteen]

Yes, with that cam it will run better with Zeniths than with the Solexes.

[Chip26]

Using Zenith carbs with your 356 engine setup (912 crankcase, "C" heads and crankshaft) can provide good performance, ensuring reliability and longevity for your engine.