KROHN27

Hey everyone,

I am looking at a weber carb that I can get for $80 or under, it was originally on a 81 Honda Civic, but the owner doesn't know if it was a 1.3L or 1.5L and if it was CVCC or non CVCC. He took the carb and everything that goes along with it off the motor, and it sounds like he sold the car, so finding out exactly is out of the option. He claims that it "looks pretty good, and everything is there".

Can anyone identify things that might help me decide whether or not this carb would fit my 83 CVCC 1.5L Civic? Also is there any numbers that I could request to get off the carb (if there are any?)

Here is a picture of said carb.



Thanks in Advance!

2stroketurbo

Yes, it will work fine. Those are great carburetors and can be used on many engines. I've seen them on 660cc 4 cylinders, all the way to 2.8ltr v6's. You wont have to re-jet. You'll love the power.

KROHN27

Thanks, I'll go snag it up Tuesday. Does that look like an electric choke?

2stroketurbo

Choke is on other side. Can't tell.

KROHN27

Hey guys, a little update. I picked the carb up for $60 bucks..it looked dirty, and I know it probably needs to be rebuilt, but I decided to go against my better judgement and slap it on anyway. It looks like the previous owner made some oldschool riser/adapter plate that utilizes the stock base plate...So I went ahead and said what the heck and put it on.

The car didn't start at first, seemed like it wasn't getting fuel, but after a little bit of tinkering we got it started. We could get it to idle okay, but whenever you'd get on the throttle it would bog down in higher RPMs.

Also, with the throttle, it's like there isn't enough travel in the stock pedal to open up the throttle on this carb? I'm not really sure how to tackle it.

Towards the end, I think the car got low on fuel, and all of the sudden it wouldn't start, we pulled the fuel line off the carb and tried to start it, and sure enough no fuel would come out. We came to the conclusion that the fuel pump finally gave out..any thoughts?

2ndGenGuy

Soooo... the fuel pump will only kick on when the engine is turning over. It uses the tach signal from the coil to trigger the fuel pump relay. Verify that you have spark before you replace any of the fuel system. If you see the tach bouncing slightly when you crank the engine, you are probably fine. If the tach sits flat at 0 when you are cranking, then that might be the problem.

To get the travel you are looking for, I had to bend the throttle cable bracket (the one that goes between the two nuts) back away from the carb, then readjust the cable. I know it sounds like it won't do anything, but it does seem to help.

That throttle linkage that comes with the carb is also pretty much garbage. My advice is to take the linkage off the stock carburetor, and modify it to fit (enlarge the hole). You get a better fit, and more travel that way because of how it arcs the cable.

The high RPM bogging though does sound kinda like it might have been a fuel starvation issue. So maybe you just ran the last life out of that fuel pump! I'd have someone crank the engine and check for a complete circuit at the pump. I can't remember if the fuel pump relay closes the ground of the 12v side of the circuit.

KROHN27

Thanks for the reply, my car actually doesn't have a tach (I guess it was that low optioned)? The car was getting fuel initially, but then we just tried starting it again shortly after and there was just nothing at all.

I'll go ahead and. Trying switching the stock bracket over today, that shouldn't be too difficult, I'm just hoping I can get the car running again enough to limp it home. It seems like the car is so much simpler now with this setup and in theory should be more reliable/happy without all the emissions/vacuum lines etc... It's just the fine tuning, not to mention I'm not exactly a carb guru either.

Fryd_Up

Just an update, Krohn and I got it working today. First, it should be noted this carb has a 'custom' adapter plate/riser which mounts to a modified OEM Keihin Carb spacer. As you can see we plugged off all additional vacuum ports from the OEM spacer with exception to just one used from the brake booster. The custom adapter plate is why, on this setup, the throttle linkage is oriented on the driver's side of the vehicle as opposed to the passenger side seen with most other Weber setups using Redline's adapter plates. We then custom fab'd a cork rubber gasket to sit b/w the custom adapter/riser and the OEM spacer plate to ensure a good seal.

Last night we ran into a snag, the fuel pump quit supplying the carb with fuel. The black wire with the yellow stripe (at the firewall) which supplies power with the ignition on only is used to power the choke... I think at some point this shorted out against the engine or body, therefore blowing the fuse for the fuel pump. Luckily it was only a fuse. Problem solved.

We were unable to modify the stock throttle cable bracket sufficiently to where it would fit in a position any better than what the Weber bracket allowed. So we went with the Weber throttle bracket, a bolt - nut - two washers, and another nut. The throttle cable is pinched between the two washers. With the addition of a shiny new return spring added it worked out great. We found we had to remove the OEM pedal stop from inside the car below the gas pedal to get enough pedal travel to open the second primary. Once that was sorted out and adjustments made the throttle issues are no more. WOT at the gas pedal opens all the way up to the second primary and it comes back to rest perfectly against the idle screw.

Now to the carb. As mentioned, at WOT the car just fell on it's ***. It would idle fine, and rev up OK, but as soon as you went to open that second primary (or is it called secondary? anyway...) it just died. Also, the car absolutely could not power it's self. Under any kind of load it would just spit, sputter, and die. So, after much WTF-ing, we decided to take the bastard off and remove the top of the carb. We had to deal with a stripped butterfly screw, which we managed to use a hacksaw blade to turn it into a flat head screw. This did the trick and we were able to remove it. We then cleaned out all the jets as well as the bowl and other parts of the carb. Also, I adjusted the level of the float. I think the float was cutting off fuel at the needle valve before the bowl had enough fuel in it. So, I bent the tab at the needle valve downward in such a way that the float would have to sit higher (more fuel in the bowl) before it would close the valve. Also we had to make a new gasket from cork rubber to reseal the carb when we put it all back together. Just a tip, use a hole puncher for bolt holes when making gaskets from scratch.

So anyways, all cleaned, tweaked, and back together and put back on the car. Started it up and let it idle. Went WOT and holy crap... no hesitation, no stutter, it's just revving it's little heart out. Got in the car and threw it in gear and it powered up the driveway and down the road without a single problem. Also, this thing added a huge performance boost. The car feels, for what it is, so much more powerful now. So ultimately I think the problem was a combination of a dirty carb, and the float possibly being set too low, not allowing enough gas into the bowl and therefore starving the engine under any kind of load or WOT.

Thanks for your help everyone. I'll let Krohn post some pictures of the finalized installation when he gets around to it. Also he scaled the car out tonight, he can share that info too. Currently the car seems to just have a slight intermittent misfire only at idle, but it doesn't appear under any kind of load or normal driving. It still has the OEM plug wires, and it's running Champion plugs, so I might contribute it to that or just some other minor tune up work. But fortunately it runs great and it's like a whole new car now. I know threads that start like this usually never have any kind of resolution so I just wanted to share what we figured out.

GrumpyOne

Thanks for the interesting series of posts as I own a couple of Gen II Civics and a Weber will be in my future. But I think that I'll opt for the new ones on eBay that come with all the adapters etc. Sometimes a cheap deal ends up by consuming a lot of time and aggravation...

KROHN27

I'm really in need of someone with a weber on a 1500 that's been running well. I really don't think my current jetting is right. I have 140 main jets, and 160,170 air correction, and the pump jet, idle jet, etc.. I have no idea. Could anyone share what their current jetting is?

letank

more weber here:

http://www.redpepperracing.com/forum...howtopic=40558

not really for the older civic, but you get ideas

and the carb section

http://www.redpepperracing.com/forum...p?showforum=33