SU carb: anyone ever done the swap

[amam]

http://www.ricambio.co.uk/69-fiat/72-classic-fiat-126-parts/157-modifications/2217-carburettor--classic-fiat-500-126

http://www.ricambio.co.uk/2193-carburettor-inlet-manifold-dellorto-32-fzd-su-carb--classic-fiat-500-126

I see on here they were selling SU carbs which im guessing were 1/25, they also said they would sell a manifold for it to fit 650cc engines

anyone ever done this conversion?

[Rusty's Uncle]

I have seen the conversion on a couple of 500s but no idea of how they perform on a Fiat. I pretty much grew up on SU carbs with Morris Minors and Austin Healey Sprites and they are very good. However ,and this is just me , I do not think that they look right on a fiat and are a bit of a "poor man's" Dellorto FZD but if you can get a manifold at a half decent price instead of that stupid price on the link then it might be worth a punt. The carb you would be looking for would be the standard 1 1/4" SU which you should be able to get at a good price in fact I think I still have one here 

[amam]

well you see ive grown up working on reliant's, and there little 850cc engines run on HS2 SU 1 1/4 carbs, they are very simple and dead easy to rebuild, got plenty of these carbs laying around too so im tempted to do the swap

my 650 aircooled engine has the weber but since i can just go down the street to my local mini specialist i can get all the SU parts i want, i'd just need to know what carb needle i'd need which is a mine field as where to start etc

[amam]

bought the manifold, it must be the worst fitting aftermarket item ive bought, its taken so much modifying to make it fit its unreal for the price

[Rusty's Uncle]

I noticed that on the Axel Gerstal site they list two versions, one at €89 then a more expensive one. Sounds like you ended up with the "cheap" version.

[Da Londo]

Hey Uncle, would that be the same manifold as for the FZD? I can't find it at Gerstl, you got a link?

I'm not sure but I think I read somewhere that the SU can't be used, however I can't recall why that was.

[Rusty's Uncle]

Being a bit of a dinosaur I am not sure how to do links but if you go to the tuning section then the fuel system sub section it is in there.

[Da Londo]

Being a bit of a dinosaur I am not sure how to do links but if you go to the tuning section then the fuel system sub section it is in there.

But of course, I completely overlooked the tuning section.

Been reading around about the SU and I can't seem to find a reason it can't be used.

[Rusty's Uncle]

As I liked the way the SU performed I once made a manifold and converted a Morris Minor carb to a downdraft set up and fitted it to my 1947 Sunbeam Talbot 10hp and it worked better than the original Stromberg so they are quite versatile 

[amam]

think you can fit a SU carb to just about anything, very simple reliable carb, pretty versatile too

[Mics126]

i fitted a su to my 650 and there is definatly a differance to the standard webber carb. more torque is the main difference and im still setting up the fueling because i bought a su for a morris 1000 so the carb was making it run a bit rich but i was slowly getting it setup before the enevitable big brakedown happened and i havent fixed my car yet, so it was never perfectly set up but like i say it was definatly better than the standard carb.

by the way the car never broke down due to the su, it was a bit more serious than that.its not a cheap but i think it is worth it especially for me because i have a 5th gear kit so the extra torque helps with the mpg as well.

good luck and have fun.