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R4 zenith Carb conversion

I

ilocke

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Several years ago i had a R4 GTL, unhappy with the performanse of the carburettor i contacted a company called 'The Carburettor Hospital' in Rochford, Essex.
They informed me that there was a Zenith Carburettor that could fit in place of the Zenith 28IF.
They supplied and fitted a Carb (the no. of which i cannot remember), a zenith with Mechanical Fuel accelerator pump.
They also had to fit a new airfilter, a sports one on the top and modify some of the linkages, but they did not replace the manifolds.
If i remember rightly they elongated the carb holes very slightly.
When i collected the car i was dumbstruck to feel the extra power, in fact the power i would say was a little too much, (dont laugh, oh alright then, just a bit!).
The car reacted almost like a 1400cc, it was fast to accelerate, could hold 85 mph all day and unbelieveably the consumption was slightly better.
I had a lot of fun with it, letting the likes of fiestas and Corsas roll up behind me expecting me to move over, only to leave them behind.
Sadly the car was later written of by a drunk driver whilst parked, and alas i did not keep the carb, but i'm sure it should be still available if anyone wants one.
 
I too bought a carb from them when I first got my 4. It was a Vauxhall Viva carb with elongated mounting holes. Good performance, but it kept icing up. They never did help me cure the problem and the aftersales service was awful. I changed it for the R5 set up with a heated manifold and experienced no further problems.
I still have this new carb if anybody wants to try it!

Steve
 
Carb

Hi steve, yes you refresh my memory now, it was a Vauxhal Viva carb, cant say i noticed it icing, but can see why it can.
I presume when you say that you swapped it for the R5 set up, you mean the early 5's.
My elderly mother has an 'L' reg late 5 (94 campus, 1.4), that has the single point fuel injection and no Carb, now i, that would be interesting.
I wonder if it is possible to fit all that kit to a 4?.
 
The Vauxhall Viva carb was OK on short journeys around town, but on longer journeys played up something horrible.
The 32IF set up from the early 5's is the way to go. For those with a full wallet, twin SU's would be nice.

The fuel injection system from the transverse 5 Primas would be difficult to graft onto the 4 and would not be economically viable.

Steve
 
Interesting read! My R4's have 845cc resp 782cc (basically the same engine i guess). Are there any similar carb upgrades you can do on those?
 
Steve, the earlier 32If is from the straight forwards engine like the 4 i presume, so is that the one with the throttle linkages on the rocker cover.
Do you need to use those linkages, ie, would you need to get the rocker cover as well as the accelerator cable? and are there any other parts you need to take?.
 
For Cuno: 1984 on 845 cc R4s were fitted with Zenith 32 IF7 carburettor together with vacuum-advance distributors. Although the official HP and torque values were the same, you will see a big difference on the road (much better torque curve). A bit higher consumption,too, mainly because 32IF7 carb has an acceleration pump. But of course you will need a 32mm manifold, boring a 28mm to 32mm is possible but you will also need to space the studs further apart and there is not too much space there... And make sure you find the respective distributor, too.
 
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