Date: Fri, 15 Oct 2010 13:42:35 -0500
Reply-To: Tom Hargrave <thargrav@HIWAAY.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Tom Hargrave <thargrav@HIWAAY.NET>
Subject: Re: Friday NVC: British Carburettor hilarity
In-Reply-To: <4CB89A58.1070404@charter.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
I remember Unisyn with the little floating ball on the side. I have one
somewhere.
I got away from using that tool & went to a mercury manometer on cars &
motorcycles with a vacuum port and a stethoscope on those that did not.
One trick most don't know about is - with milti-carbed engines you can
listen to the base of each with a stethoscope. Each carb venture makes a
whistle when air is passing through & when the pitch is the same they are in
balance.
Tom
www.towercooler.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf Of
John Rodgers
Sent: Friday, October 15, 2010 1:16 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Friday NVC: British Carburettor hilarity
Back in the 60's I lived in the Florida Keys. I bought a used Volvo
544 with a dual carbed B-1800 engine and had made a killer deal - I thought;
The car looked new, and I liked the way it it felt on the road and how I fit
into it. Had a wife and 1st kid at the time. It made the perfect family
machine. Engine ran "ok" but wasn't wondeful. It ran smooth, but just
didn't seem to have any power. It needed a tuneup I knew, and at the time,
the only place that would even talk to me about "that Potato Bug looking
Volvo with the funky dual carbs" was way up in Miami. So, I dutifully treked
up there to try and get the 544 tune up.
There, a mechanic took pity on me and showed me "the secret" on how to tune
the carbs. Introduced me to the wonders of the Unisyn, he did. Told me that
from now on I could do it myself and not have to drive to Miami.
With his tuning, when I drove away I was amazed at the power gained. I never
hired out another tuning on that engine again after that. Wish I still had
that car. But - someone ran a stop sign and crunched it for me. Bought a
brand new Volvo after that. But it wasn;'t the same. That model 544 was
special. Much later I bought a baby blue Jaguar XKE V-12 convertible with
FOUR Stromberg carbs. A Unisyn tool came in the glove box - but that is
another story.
John
John Rodgers
Clayartist and Moldmaker
88'GL VW Bus Driver
Chelsea, AL
Http://www.moldhaus.com
On 10/15/2010 12:29 PM, Rowan Tipton wrote:
> I thought everyone had a unisyn. I used it a lot on various
> multicarbed VWs and various British sport cars. I doubt that I've
> touched it in 25 years.
>
> r
>
>
>
> On Oct 15, 2010, at 1:21 PM, Loren Busch wrote:
>
>> On Fri, Oct 15, 2010 at 10:09 AM, Jim Felder <jim.felder@gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> A Unisyn is way better, IMHO. You can get very, very accurate
>>> readings from the floating plastic ball, much more than by listening
>>> to a hose.
>>>
>>
>> Jim, you realize that there are a bunch of people rading this thread
>> and wondering what the h**l we are talking about.
>> My Unisyn went to a close friend that was just finishing a complete
>> restoration on a TR-2, back in the early '70s.
>
>
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