Solex c40 ADDHE Twin Carbs - Will these fit?

[NickB70]

Hi All,

I have recently got the above carbs with a view to stripping them, rebuilding them and putting them on my 1600cc in my ghia when i rebuild it over the winter to get rid of the dreaded end float.

My questions are these:

1. Has anyone seen these working on an aircooled VW before?

2. What manifolds would work with these (someone said they are the same patterns as weber IDF 40s?)

3. I am crazy for taking this on, with little experience but quite a bit of time and loads of enthusiasm?

Any thoughts or help gratefully received.

Thank You

[modok]

Those are side-draft carbs, are you going to have them pointed back into the fenders?

IMO, it's not practical to use those with a upright fan engine, but they may work well on a type-4 or type-3.

[bugguy076]

I have seen Harley carbs running on a VW trike. Anyting is possible, how good at engineering are you?
I'd sell the carbs and get a standard set.

[daos]

have the possibility of getting a set of these for my type 3. plenty of space out to the sides, almost none upwards so it seems like it might be a good idea.

any drawbacks to this type of carb compared with the more standard solution?

[jeffrey8164]

[daos]

i'll happily post info if i decide to do it..

i think ally manifolds would be fairly straightforward to weld up.
i just don't know a thing about the carbs. to start with, are they even suitable?

and there must be good reasons why nobody has gone this route before.

[Paul Windisch]

The reason nobody has done it is because of fitment. Sideways carburetors have no place large enough to mount in an air cooled VW body, where the upright carbs will. If you somehow get rid of the upright cooling shroud, make some manifolds that turn 90* inward, and have the carburetor horns face each other in the middle of the engine bay, then they might work. Sounds like a lot of work to fit them though. Plus, you’ll likely have to fabricate a throttle linkage.
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[Rome]

Rather than fabricate aluminum intake manifolds, how about starting off with the steel intake pipes from a US-spec Type 3 fuel injection system? US Type 3 had FI as standard equipment from 1968 thru the 1973 model year. They'd already have the head flange attached to one end. Turn those sections outward, cut the pipes short, and weld on some home-made flanges that fit the Solex bases. Since the weight of the carbs hanging off the metal head flanges would risk fatigue, some type of support to the engine cylinder head side edges, or up from the engine bay side panels would be wise.

Here's a shot of the manifold and pipes from a redone engine, but are stock configuration.

What are the venturi sizes of those Solexes? You should be able to see the size in millimeters by shining a flashlight down one throat. On other types of Solex single-throat carbs, the venturi numbers are molded into the upper rim. Have you already removed the main and idle jets to see their sizes? If your Ghia has stock-size intake valves (e.g., 35mm diameter) and the rest of the engine is conservative/stock build, then you want venturi sizes in the high 20's.

[daos]

this is for a type 3, and i don't have the carbs yet. they're on sale locally for a good price compared to webers or dells.

the fi manifold is an interesting idea. agree about the cantilevered weight, that would need to be addressed. starting to see now why this is not common. the extra cost of the usual suspects may be worth it to avoid all the extra hassle.

in principle - can any carb/s of the right size work on an engine?

[Slow 1200]

It has been done with DCOEs on a type 3, I think the ADDHEs have a very similar if not the same footprint

[daos]

cheers, good to know. i'll see what info i can dig up.

[Erik G]

from the gallery

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[daos]

nice, thanks for those.

[Paul Jr]

Not even close to being properly educated on proper intake flow but from the limited information I have read so far I would assume the hard turns in those manifolds would be counter productive for anything but forced induction.

Would it not be wiser to start with a much straighter intake?

[FreeBug]

That setup shown would make for very hot intake temperatures. Like 70°C.