1983 ea81 2wd carter weber: convert to hitachi; what is involved?

[chikaskia]

howdy all, am going to try and resurrect my 83 wagon which has been sitting since 2008. (i have spent time poring over previous pertinent threads seeing if this has already been adequately addressed, but did not find what i am looking for) when last running, "olive" had developed a problem in which she would fire up and idle just fine, but had no power and would not accelerate beyond a crawl.  i am no mechanic, back in earlier days i learnt how to replace the clutch, axles, steering knuckles, but not much beyond that, my pal joe, who gave me olive, and i spent three hot days trying three different c-w carbs to see if we could affect a cure, but gave up, i left her parked and jumped on my bicycle and the bus for a few years until i found an 84 2wd sw ("silver car") locally for $800, which served me beyond the call of duty until she blew a head gasket on the james river parkway south of springfield, coming back from the eastern ozarks sunday evening.  i managed to limp silver car adding water every 15 miles to get to the oklahoma border and within range of a free AAA tow back to tulsa (the gasket blew a hole between the water jacket and the exhaust, so no water in oil yet, but there is something knocking, perhaps a lifter, when started).  anyhow, the next door neighbor came over having heard the tow truck come in and offered his services as a shade tree wrencher, since olive was sitting back in back with the mysterious ailment above mentioned, he thought it would be cheaper and easier to get her running again rather than trying to fix silver car which will need the engine pulled regardless.  he spent the last two afternoons working on olive, he established that the fuel pump was working and fuel getting through the filters to the carb, and has dissasembled both c-w carbs and found the accelerator pump diaphragms on both to be rotted/perforated and thinks that may be the source of the no power/stall issue.  am now waiting for surfside aauto parts to call about a new accelerator pump i ordered yesterday.  meanwhile, the reading i have done on this board leaves me with the impression that the carter weber is a problematic unit, and i never did get very good gas mileage out of it, whereas the hitachi on silver car, even in the neglected state i allowed her to be in had delivered 28 mpg on the tank i used getting over to the ozarks. ok, so enough background ramble, the thesis question is, can i switch carbs from the 84 to the 83, and what all is involved?  there is extensive documentation about fitting ea81 with SPFI, but i do not have interest or locally obtainable resources for that, but i do have both cars. i am thinking the dizzys may be paired to each carb, but are the manifolds and wiring different?  as the carter seems to be a problem, and the hitachi seems to deliver better mpg and is much more widely available, i think the detailed discussion may be of use to others in the future.  finally there is the chance that another part/function/system other that the fuel/carburetor may be the problem causing the idle fine but no get up and go that i last experienced when i parked olive six years ago.  please help, this is not a leisurely project, being broke down right now is extremely destablising, i have had a challenging year of transition, and have only began to get on my feet, as recently as three weeks ago experienced being flat broke for the first time in years and really need to be able to get around to take care of some pressing tasks.  i had planned to be spending this week running loads and assembling a multi ton uhaul load of vintage records to haul up to kansas.  the title says it all in a nutshell, but i am also looking for insight about the c-w, i am so hoping just replacing the accelerator pump will fix the issue.  thanks for any reply, and for being here to ask!

Edited September 24, 2014 by chikaskia

[BirdMobile]

Good god, man!

I honestly tried to read through that...

Could you post the non-telephone-book cliff notes or something? Love to help, but the lack of paragraph breaks, capitalization, etc. made it nearly impossible to get through.

[chikaskia]

my apologies, how's this: has anyone had experience/luck with converting from oem carter/weber (1983) to hitachi, and if so; what all is involved? 

[BirdMobile]

It seems like it would be a step backward... most of us go from Hitachi TO Weber for the increase in power, better throttle response, increased reliability, less hose clutter in the engine compartment, and easier maintenance and repair.

 

If you truly suspect the carburator to be the source of your problems, I'd personally consider repairing or rebuilding the Weber.

.

.

Edited September 25, 2014 by BirdMobile

[rrgrr]

+1 on the Weber swap, the Hitachi is more trouble than it's worth. Find a gen 3 ea82 intake manifold, then search the excellent weber swap threads here. You likely won't even need your neighbor's help.

I was unable to source the cw acc pump, but it may be out there.

[colemanapp]

Don't forget the gas tank. That thing could be rusty and filled with varnish. Theres a screen that gets clogged by the pickup tube. If the carbs not getting proper fuel pressure, it wont run right.

[Mykeys Toy]

It seems like it would be a step backward... most of us go from Hitachi TO Weber for the increase in power, better throttle response, increased reliability, less hose clutter in the engine compartment, and easier maintenance and repair.

 

If you truly suspect the carburator to be the source of your problems, I'd personally consider repairing or rebuilding the Weber.

.

.

Carter/weber is a one barrel carb that came on a few gen cars.  Mine was a feedback carb and when running right gets great fuel economy but doesnt not make a lot of power.  The Hitachi is a step in the right direction but unless the OP wants to do a rebuild  on it himself it isn't worth the hassle when a Weber 32/36 is easier to do for the about as much as a rebuilt Hitachi.

 

 To the OP you will need the Hitachi intake whether you are going to go with the Hitachi or the Weber 32/36.  The whole swap can be done in a day including plugging the coolant passage on the intake. After that another day to clean up under the hood and remove a lot of the emissions stuff that you are no longer using.

[Dania02525]

I've got the carter weber 1bbl on mine- all of the feedback mechanisms jammed up and stopped working, so I broke off the 'altitude adjuster' which is the round plastic thing on the top right of the carb which actuates the top flapper.  I just unplugged everything else from it.  Bend the pieces in there in such a way that it does not "lock" itself in position, and attach an aftermarket choke cable to the thing that used to be hooked to the temperature/thermo spring inside the plastic housing (the gold looking part, not the silver one that gives you high idle).  (I broke my housing to get it out- just make sure you don't get plastic pieces in the carb). 

 

I used a throttle lock kit from a 4x4 store, but you could probably get a choke cable from a tractor store or something too.  Now I have a manual choke, which pulls on the altitude adjuster flapper of the carb.  I even put a little throttle sping on it to pull it to the full open position, so when I pull on the cable, it closes it.  It is a major hack, but the car idles great, starts in the cooler weather, and the mixture can be adjusted at will.  I've found that it pings if the flapper is 100% open, so I run it just a tad closed.

 

I realize that this is super redneck, but the weber carb kit is not without its problems- like the coolant leak problems, the clearance issues, etc etc.  Also, the weber is $400, plus we would need to change the intake manufold to use it.