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What to do?
Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 11:09 pm
by jh
Driving home on Friday I heard a familiar sort of
crack from what sounded like my left carb. Bugger, I thought. But it wasn't the desperate kind of
bugger thought because of aforementioned familiarity. I have just replaced the gasket on my right-hand carb a couple of weeks ago because of exactly the same kind of cracking sound so I thought how unlucky am I but safe in the knowledge that I probably know the cause and, more importantly, the fix. And i just happened to have bought more than on replacement gasket.
So, tonight I took and hour before dark decended to sort the problem out. BUT...the problem isn't exactly what I expected so I'm feeling a wee bit desperate and could do with some advice/some options....
Basically, long story short, the part of the carb that fixes to the inlet manifold is completely busted. The crack I heard this time came from a real crack and not just a disintegrated or slipped gasket.
So, folks what the hell can i do to fix this one. I'm conscious that the holes are not original as in they have been shaped at some point so my thinking is to get an exact fit is either impossible or £££$$$€€€.

Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 7:53 am
by Gary71
You could possibly have this welded and have the mounting face skimmed, but you may just be asking for trouble later after having probably spent the cost of a new inlet manifold.
If it were mine I'd be putting up a "wanted inlet manifold" post

Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 8:50 am
by Nige
don't worry, I got them new from stateside tuning for £60 the pair. Never seen that happen before though, did you tighten them with a 3ft long bar??? With abit of card and some marking out with felt tip pen you can transfer the shape across to the new manifold. Buy a pack of grinding shaped stones from B&Q bung em in a power drill and open the shape out to match the old ones. In the words of Gordo Ramsey.... card, felt-tip pen, drill, grind, smooth, match porting.... DONE!
Else just buy a new manifold and bolt in straight on and do the porting when it winter.
like these:

Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 9:41 am
by ar_kid
You could try HTS-2000 from
http://www.aluminiumrepair.co.uk/
Haven't tried this myself but the video looks promising. You'll need to get lots of heat into the job though.
Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 10:36 am
by higs356
I'm with new inlet maniofolds and shape them as described
Tey dont have to be super smooth ...just big enough to allow adequate flow ...in fact you want a little turbulence in the inlets to get a better mix of fuel air
While doing this you can also have a go at getting theold ones welded for spares or to put back on if they work out really good
Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 10:44 am
by Nige
http://www.statesidetuning.co.uk/partstype4/carbs.htm
scroll down, £69 per pair, else put a wanted ad on VZi most likely get something sorted within a day. It really is as easy as it sounds to match port them, you'd only have to do one anyway and then have one spare, they're not handed so you can use on either cylinder bank. Don't over tighten them.
Also buy The Dellorto Superformance Tech Book from somewhere, often on Ebay and VZi
scroll down
http://www.vwheritage.com/vwh/VW-Books% ... lateID=vwh
Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 10:19 pm
by jh
Folks, you have put my mind greatly at ease - although, Nige, I more than suspect you make it sound far easier than it is (and about the over-tightening I've never had cause to go near that particular carb before). But this prob has been there for a while because, although it doesn't come out well in the photo the burn/soot marks are right through the broken off bit.
Anyways, I have emailed those repairers for info but will ring stateside 2moro and get the part you pointed me at Nige. And will see about that book too.
Thanks an absolute million for taking the timeout, all of you, you help me out. Everything seems doable with support like this.
Keep you posted (and supplied with questions too

Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 11:38 am
by ar_kid
If it's not too late I've just seen a set on Newbury's site for £39.00
http://www.bernardnewbury.co.uk/store/p ... b90d03f32a
Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 1:42 pm
by shambly
ar_kid wrote:You could try HTS-2000 from
http://www.aluminiumrepair.co.uk/
Haven't tried this myself but the video looks promising. You'll need to get lots of heat into the job though.
I used this recently to join two pieces of ally to make a bracket for a crank trigger sensor mount.
It _is_ great stuff and incredibly strong BUT it needs a huge amount of heat AND you can't make multiple passes (at the second pass all the stuff from the first pass will melt again) at the job.
I'd think it would be great for repairing a lug for a stud but cheaper and simpler to just buy a replacement if they are readily available

Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 11:25 pm
by jh
Just got my manifolds today, in fact. Used Stateside tuning who are a pleasure to deal with. We got our wires crossed first time out and they sent the wrong ones but, as i said, just got the right ones today.
Problem now is to find the time to bore and fit them - leave the country for a month so no porshce fun for the forseeable.
Thanks for the heads up, though.
Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 8:58 pm
by jh
folks, need another wee bit of advice. Just in the process of fitting the new inlet manifold and (took a while but) I notice that the new one is way taller than the old one!!
Do they need to be the same on both sides?
I think probably but could do with confirmation.
Nige, also (

) i have one screw left over and its for the ground cable but I just cannot for the life of me find where to attach it - you wouldn't remember would you.
tnx.
was hoping to get the car ready for a long trip 2moro so if anyone can answer the 1st question i'd be grateful.
Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 10:05 pm
by FMAN
Hi,
I would imagine if the manifold tracts are different length you will get different performance from each side at different revs. This would lead to unbalanced forces being put on the engine. I don’t think anyone will be able to answer if will be OK or not, unless of course they have tried it!
Regards
Neil
Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 11:39 pm
by jh
Thanks for that Neil. Seems I have to replace the other one too - buggggger!
Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 5:36 pm
by jh
Now I'm completely pzzed off - c o m p l e t e l y.
Story so far...
.spark from right carb
.no idea so asked here and got bang on advice
.removed carb and inlet manifold to replace gasket
.put back together and all was fine except car didn't seem to run as good as before
.asked on here and realized that i should have shaved the gasket to match the holes.
.removed all and shaved the gasket
.replaced and all was fine.
.a week or so later the other carb started to do the same thing
.removed the carb only to find the manifold was broken
.ordered a new one from stateside
.got sent the wrong ones - type 1 engine
..missed bringing the car to the only porsche show in this country
.finally got the right ones
.fitted only to notice that the left was higher that the right
so today
.removed (yet again) the right one
.bored the manifold with a drill as suggested here by Nige - took hours!
.fitted the whole thing back
only to find
.that the linkage arm(?) is now mysteriously too short to bolt to each carb
.only to get pizzed off and give up for the day (supposed to be far far away doing fun things thie weekend but stay to fix up the car - idiot me)
.only to find that I cannot close the bonnet
.the right carb is too high to allow the bonnet to close whereas the left carb and the bonnet don't interfere with eachother at all
Jeeeeeeeeeeeezuz.
Now i truly give up and the car will be off the road for another probably 2 months (going away for a few weeks on monday and by the time i get back, order whatever the fuk it is i need to order this time, wait for delivery, then wait for a saturday that isn't pzzn rain..........) - been a disaster of a summer car wise this year.
a truly depressed 912e owner.
Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 8:05 pm
by hot66
don't worry .. we all have these moments. Just remember I'm an expert at weather predictions & I predict an indian summer stretching all the way through October

, so plenty of driving time left.
It sounds like once you get the correct matching manifold it will all fall into place
