My 1.3 8v Carb > 1.8 16v K-Jet (56k err)

Good call, huge pat on the back for all that work. The 1.3's are slooooooow haha

 

I started a carb conversion (taking it back to it's roots!) Oct/Nov time last year, gathering parts and seeing what had to be done.

Started off with purchasing a pair of brand new Twin Weber 45's (no going back after that):


And then a Dbilas inlet manifold (sourced from regal-auto.co.uk):






Bit of a mock up with the carbs nipped on:






Couple of other new parts; Facet red top fuel pump and Filter King fuel pressure regulator:

 

How it looked before I started undoing some of my previous work converting it to fuel injection:


Then on to removing parts. Off came the 'power rohr' pipe:


Next, part of the inlet manifold:


Quick shot of the Ashley manifold, couple of years old now:


Draining the blood (or rather the fuel) from car [:^(]:


Then out came the metering head with the rest of the manifold:


The heart of the K-Jet fuel system:


All looks quite empty over on the o/s:


Cheeky simple mock up:



With quite a bit of conversation with Jason aka mr hillclimber, who I must say a big thank you to for helping and offering advise for pretty much all of the conversion! And also with regards to finding a good base setup in terms of jet size and choke size selection.

Smaller chokes fitted (36mm > 34mm):




Carb body, choke, aux venturi and lock plates:


Removed the cabby/scirocco lift pump fuel sender to the pump, to make way for the original carb sender:


Homebrew egyption style bracketry to mount the new facet pump underneath the car:


The pumps new home:


Problem area however with the top radiator hose and clerance issues (rectified later on with a different rad):


Linkage mechanism fitted, along with modifying levers to suit application:

 

Then (back) on to the wiring, this time removing it all!:


A 'bit' messy:


Cable coverings removed to trace wires back:


A couple of hours work...:


And a few more wires:


Then to the engine bay.

Fuel pressure regulator fitted:


... at least it doesn't look that empty over the o/s now:


Tried some shorter stacks on the carbs to see if would offer any better clerance to the top hose:




That'll be a no then:


They look ok though?:


Some dremel action to shorten a couple of manifold bolts, there really isn't a great deal of room to get the bolts in and tighten them up:




Fuel lines all sorted:


The plan to create more clearance was to... use a different radiator! It took some time to find out exactly what people have used when running carbs/ITB's, I opted for the 1.0/1.2 Corsa B radiator option. Thanks to a couple of members on here offering your advise on what you have used and also a big thanks to Kev/kevfawcett over on E38 coming to the rescue with some good install pictures.

VW radiator behind, Vauxhall rad in front:


Needs a slight bit of modding to get the rad sitting under the slam panel:


New K+N filters. Hmm... but rad will move in further though (red anodised ram pipes removed in favour of the 60mm trumpets):


Rad mounted in. Bit of cool airflow over the top of the rad now:


This is pretty much how it all looks at present (will eventually (whenever that will be) find a better home for the ECU inside the car but for the time being it will live in/under the rain tray:


Thats basically it really, took longer than planned but there wasn't much of a rush to complete it, other than wanting to drive the bloomin' thing! It's much more fun to drive than anything modern.

The obligatory 'first time it started' video:
[youtube]SG3cBtvOtwU[/youtube]

Sounding ok, needed a bit more fuel pressure and the idle jets I ordered were, for some reason off some big heavy american carb, so it was never going to idle properly with those!

All going ok after a tune, now just in need of sorting the gearbox out and getting a couple of cogs changed! Already have a trackday under my belt with the carbs on... it now costs at least 60 on fuel compared to about a third of that when on K-Jet (full tank plus a jerry can), now it's two jerry cans

So a big thanks to Jason/mr hillclimber, Steve/steved, Mike/fthaimike, Mart/Hotgolf, Kev/kevfawcett (E38) and a few others no doubt for providing valuable information and advice!

Club GTI.

 

what have you wraped round the steering rack gaitor ??what about your dizzy cap?? by the way sweet ride m8

 

Tin foil! Does the job well.

I've left the standard KR cap on as I have enough clearance and I'm using the Bugpack front and rear engine mount bushes, so there is little movement from the engine to cause any problem.

There is a thread around with an ABF cap swap and also, a Peugeot 205(?) cap fits.

 

Great car love what you have done. Im going to put some throttle bodies on my 16v bet they sound sweet!

 

Cheers, should sound ace! there are a fair few people on this forum using throttle bodies (and carbs too), I sometimes wish I had gone for throttle bodies but the car only gets used occasionally and I dont think I'll be changing the fuel systems again for yet another time!

 

have you noticed much of a performance gain with the carbs?

 

It's a little difficult to say as I also changed the gearbox with a completely different final drive (a fair bit shorter than a 1.6 GTI box which was on previously).

The carbs could do with a bit more fettling as I'm not sure if it is fueling as good as it could at the top end but mid-range pull on the standard engine feels more punchy and throttle response is very sharp (4 throttle bodies as opposed to the shared small + large butterfly setup on the K-Jet manifold).

I'm still yet to get it back on the same rollers to see if it has anymore power, but I would like to see how the power and torque graphs have changed from K-Jet > Carbs.

Not forgetting the noise!

 

mk1 16v

doing the same conversion 1.1 to 1.8 16v what ignition live have you used as when i put live wire off the battery onto the coil she starts first turn but put the one coming throught the bulkhead (black+purple i think it) trys to start but dosent has this wire lower volts ??? do i have to run a live ign feed from the fusebox??help so close but so far what lift pump you use m8 mk2 one if so does if fit straight in mk1 1.1 tank. ??

 

Just had a look at my ignition coil and noted down the wires going to it.

15 (positive)
black (ECU)
white/purple

1 (negative)
green (ECU)
red/black
black (for fuel pump relay that I added)

I recall the white/purple wire being on the coil before, the haynes doesn't list this though going to the coil though! I dont see there being a problem if you have to use a spare ignition from the fusebox if this allows it to start?

As for the lift pump, it's only the other Mk1 based components that will fit, the fuel sender lift pump that you need can be had from either a Cabriolet pr Scirocco that run K-Jet. Straight fit too and try and get the 3 pin plug to go with it with some wire left on it, as the carb fuel sender is a 2 pin plug (the extra pin on the cabby/rocco sender is to feed the lift pump).

 

mk1 16v

cheers m8

 

A late update for my red Mk1 as well, spec has changed slightly with the addition of solid adjustable top mounts and stiffer springs. (Will try and get around to adding these pictures)

A few pictures from Curborough back in September (thanks to Deako and sparrow for a couple of the pics ) :











Tripod ^


And a couple of videos, one in, one out:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Yiy3vJc7InI&feature=channel_page

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=cuOVpIAS4w4&feature=channel_page

 

Nice chariot! Carbs Rock!!

What top mounts did you get?

 

Hi Chris,

Top mounts are from CompBrake. I think at the time, under 100 for the pair.







Had to use a 6/7mm spacer on either side with the G60 steels as the tops of the tyres (195/50/15) were touching the lower collar. I used the shortest springs I could get away with using to try and get good clearance with the 6x15 ET35's steels.

I am trying to get around to fitting a set of BMW wheels (heavy mind!) back on for a bit of quick and easy widetrack to note any cornering differences but still need to clearance the arches.... sort the gearbox... etc. It's all endless...

I shall hopefully get back with a reply to your other message later on this evening.

 

Really nice build, looks like great work.
I love the pic with no bonnet, looks badass.