Jump to content
Ultimate Subaru Message Board

What's wrong with the Carter/Weber stock 1bbl?


Recommended Posts

I have one and other than getting it to idle consistantly, not being able to get a throttle cable, and the fact that it backs out it's own screws and will have itself loose on the manifold within one week, I have no serious problems with it. Aside from a little more backfiring durning deceleration and an uneven idle, there is no difference in how it runs with the carb attached by nothing more than gravity and screws that keep it from going side to side. A touch of loctite fixed that and my idle is good enough for government purposes....In any case I have heard nothing but bad about the 1bbl and I just don't get it. What is the real problem with the carb?

 

BTW I am getting roughly 30, city, 25, town, and 22, on my route (Newspaper delivery).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Most people..including me dont like it for a number of reasons. Its a bad design. When looking at it you can see that fuel is delivered from the passenger side of the carb. Only problem with this is that if you make a left hand turn too fast you starve the engine and run the risk of stalling out infront of oncoming traffic. This has almost happened to me a number of times. The second reason is..its a one barrel!! It makes an already sluggish engine feel slower. My car has 59,000 miles on it and i swapped to a hitachi cause i couldnt take all the hessitation and stalling that the carter weber gave me. The hitachi has some of the same problems from the factory but mine is a ru-builders hitachi and runs like a top. Also hitachis have the fuel delivered from the front of the carb so less likely to stall out making a fast turn right or left. And being a two barrel..it gives a bit more power. Ive driven an EA81 with a two barrel and my current car with a one barrel and i can say that there is a noticible difference in how it feels when you put your foot on the gas. With my old EA81 hatch that had a two barrel and an auto i could get it to chirp a tire if i tried hard enough. Couldnt even do that with the one barrel and auto in my 83 sedan.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you do decide to upgrade to the Hitachi or a Weber, consider what manifold to get. For either carb, I recommend getting the intake manifold from the EA82 motor. Then you would of course need the EA82 Hitachi, or the Weber.

 

The reason for using the EA82 carb manifold is that it has a significantly larger intake hole at the base of the carb. More flow. If emissons inspection is not an issue where you live, the Weber is the better choice for power, fuel economy and tunability.

 

You will need an adaptor plate to mate the Weber to the EA82 manifold.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's notorious for the bad mounting as you describe - the manifold has no reddily availible adaptor to go to the weber, and the 1bbl is very hard to find parts or rebuild kits for. It came mostly as a feedback version on auto's and 2wd's.... some 4wd's 82 and earlier.... depends. The feedback systems are complex monstrosities for an engine that really doesn't need it - ecu, sensors, etc are rather complex for what most people are used to when they see a carb. Not neccesarily a bad carb, but the lack of parts, it's comparitive rareness in the vehicles that remain on the road, and in JY's today, and the complexities of the feedback system all contribute to it's bad reputation. Is it deserved? In a sense yes.... even were it technically better it's now not a good choice since it's serviceability is questionable. It's simpler to just switch to a weber... or better yet mount up some EA82 SPFI instead. If you have a feedback C/W then you'll already have the O2 sensor port in the y-pipe even.....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

or better yet mount up some EA82 SPFI instead. If you have a feedback C/W then you'll already have the O2 sensor port in the y-pipe even.....

Ahh - I was waiting for someone to suggest that - SPFI, or FI period is by far the best way to drag hp out of your car. Not to mention the fact that you adjust it once, and forget it - in the past six months, all I have done is check coolant and oil levels - and I haven't even had to top them off!! (of course I have to change my oil at a regular interval)

 

Don't know how easy it would go onto a EA81 car though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Want another one? I can go out and find the one I threw in the bushes after tearing it out of my Brat!:lol: Seriously though, I don't like them, mine gave me so much trouble on the way back from wcss7. I limped the Brat home like 200 miles with one of the bolts out of the carb. (Who seriously thought that having one of the bolts mount from underneath was a good idea?) We hyad the whole thing glued to the manifold with rtv sealant, it was horrible.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...