Rod's Chenowth 4LWD Build

[jimmyhoffa]

Dude don't do that if you go single IDF, come look through my pile of single IDF manifolds and possibly viable carb bodies first. You would just need end castings then for the single port and those are almost free. That said, you'd probably be MOST happy with a single Zenith if you "just want it to work and stay working" on a single port 1600 off road car.
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1974 Chenowth 2RL #1244 Street Legal
My other car isn't ridiculous.

[oprn]

It would be pretty easy to cut up a spare SP intake and mig weld up a set of manifolds. Kadrons would not be my first choice, way overhyped for the dollar. I would look for a Solex 30PICT-2 and matching distributor. Failing that a set of type 3 Solex carbs would be my second choice but then that's just me.
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Our cars get old, we get old but driving an old VW never gets old!

[racecougar]

[jimmyhoffa]

If you'd even consider Zenith, snag the one with the pipe wrap on it. Singe port compatible with BugSpray or Zenith. Has heat provisions you can weld up. I have the little end flanges you can weld into your exhaust.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=2635247

Then hail mary this P010 core and save it, if you're feeling adventurous and want a really reliable setup. They are very simple at their core and don't really have many weak points, I'd bet this one can be made perfectly good.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=2735582
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1974 Chenowth 2RL #1244 Street Legal
My other car isn't ridiculous.

[racecougar]

I'll consider anything that gets the engine to run well. I can't seem to find a source for a new, or at least decent, Zenith carb though.

[racecougar]

Just noticed the edit; I think you were editing while I was posting last week.

The Chinese H30/31 should arrive some time this week. I'll see if I'm able to jet it to work decently. If not, I'll either pursue rebuilding that Zenith or just go with a new HPMX.

[racecougar]

To update this, I've had very little time to mess with the buggy, but I did stick the carb on it and started jetting it to get a decent AFR. It's already light years ahead of the Brazil-made H30/31 I removed, so I'm hopeful that I'll be able to get a reasonable AFR across the whole range. Having a choke is a game changer in and of itself.

I was actually dialing in the idle Friday when the storm front that generated the EF3 tornado just north of us came through. Had to put the buggy inside the shop in a hurry, close things up, and head out with chainsaws to get trees off of our power lines.

[ORANGECRUSHer]

We had tornados for a couple days end of last week too. Power was taken out Friday and I couldn't get any welding done last weekend. Got the shop picked up though!
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Brian H.

OrangeCrushERBerrien Warrior-2.4L Quad4-2x3 arms-1.5Fox coilovers-094-930CVs
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[ORANGECRUSHer]

[racecougar]

Yep. We had two more small tornadoes pass just West of us last night. Ended up sleeping in the basement til 2AM; I'm dragging today.

Yes, the Chinese H30/31 is on the car now. Hopefully I'll get time (and weather) this weekend to finish dialing it in. If I can get it reasonably good, I'll likely move on to checking rear camber and toe next. The tracking of the rear end feels "spooky" when taking a corner at 50+ MPH.

EDIT: This is the carb on the car now. https://www.ebay.com/itm/375925521903

[racecougar]

Snapped these last night while installing shocks on another vehicle.

[DesertSasquatchXploration]

That header is way overkill for a SP 1600. What kills me is why you want to fight what works your clearly a talented guy with a good shop fab up the heat risers and build a simple intake using hot air from under the cylinder's plastic flex tubing is 15$ on ebay. If it doesn't work Ill eat my shorts.
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Key is to have downward travel Preload keep both wheels on the ground at all times once you lift a tire your DONE. Guys worry about clearance instead think of the opposite you want the suspension to drop that tire in the hole and keep you going. A spider for example they keep their body low but their legs can reach pretty far so they don't (bottom out)

[racecougar]

There is plenty that the PO did that is overkill for a 1600 SP. I'm not spending money to step backwards though. The goal for now is to get it running properly, then decide if it's good enough, if it needs to be swapped, or if it needs to be sold.

What am I fighting exactly? If I end up keeping the single carb, I will likely install heat risers. I wanted to go dual carb to eliminate the need for all of that and pick up some power, but I flat out cannot justify spending $1500 on carbs for a 1600 SP.

Available time to mess with this thing is exceptionally limited; I have a number of other cars/projects to work on. Honestly, as it sits now, if I pulled the WBO2 off of it, I expect most folks would think the carb is dialed in well. I'm shooting for more accurate fueling than that though.

[ORANGECRUSHer]

[racecougar]

It's 1-1/2". I'm going to keep it as-is.

The $45 Chinese carb did the trick. Fueling is now where it should be across the rpm/throttle range. I put a few miles on it tonight, and it did well. It zips up to ~50 MPH well, but it really lacks balls once you hit 60 MPH. I realize it's a 1600 SP, but I figured it would be quicker being as light as it is.

Next steps is to check the alignment, particularly in the rear, drive it more, then decide what I want to do with it.

Currently planning to take it to a local cruise in on Sunday.

[racecougar]

Ended up taking the Top Banana and the '65 C10 out to a car show, then lunch, today. It was about a 20 mile trip, including a little highway time, and it did great.

Saw this guy at the show:

[racecougar]

Put another 20 miles on it today, then checked the alignment. The front had 5/8" toe in; I reduced that to 1/8". That change alone made it significantly easier to roll back and forth by hand in the shop. Those tires had to be scrubbing pretty hard.


Then I moved to the rear. It has 1-1/4" of toe out! It has so much toe out that my gauge doesn't reach (see photo). Additionally, the driver side rear tire has 0.3 degrees of positive camber and the passenger side has 0.7 degrees of positive camber. I'll tackle this another night, but now I'm curious how much this has been holding the car back in fourth gear.