Carb issues

[bamarover]

Well, after multiple attempts over several weeks to "readjust" carb after the running characteristics kept changing - smooth idle, to rough idle at times, black followed by white smoke on acceleration at times, dieseling here and there, but not all the time, etc, we decided to take off the carb for some inspection as it looked like there was no gasket between phenolic apacer and carb. Sure enough, no gasket there, but there is one between spacer and intake, BUT found that spacer is cracked all the way through on one side.

Questions:
Is there supposed to be a gasket between base of carb and spacer?
Is the spacer something I can find at NAPA or other parts store? Any body ever repaired one of these like with JB weld?
Would the cracked spacer cause it to be impossible to keep running consistently?

According to the weber info I can find, the mixture screw should not have to be turned out more than 3 turns from seated. Ours requires more than that (with broken spacer) Should I order a larger jet or is replacing the cracked spacer likely to change that, so it is less than 3 turns out?

Thanks,
Greg

[pickuprover]

A cracked spacer would make it impossible to tune the carb (ie different amount of air coming in at different pressures, both engine pressures and barametric pressures.) As for repairing it, never heard of it being done, but these are Land Rovers and their owners never seem to amaze me. As for the gaskets, I have one between the spacer and the carb, but not one in the carb. Those surfaces are supposed to be perfectly mated (oh and do not take the top of one carb and put it on the bottom of another, surfaces do not match, and fuel leaks and air leaks will hound you, unless you know a very good machinist.... ) I believe that the spacers are fairly common, but may require an order from your local mailorder Landy supply...

[bamarover]

That explains why we get it running correctly, but press the gas hard and then runs rough. Let it sit and settle down, play with accelerator a bit and runs okay again. Different pressures, sucking different amounts of air.

Bottom up.
I have a gasket between manifold and black spacer.
There is not one between phenolic spacer and bottom of adapter plate for carb. Seems like there should be. Would it hurt to put one?
Carb to adapter on our setup has a gasket.

There is a metal shroud coming out of manifold that sticks up high enough above the phenolic apscer to go into carb adapter. I guess this keeps everything aligned, but is not air tight.

[pickuprover]

Can you send a picture of your set up... you mention a black spacer (I have one) then a phenolic spacer (thinking this is another term for that black spacer..) then an adapter plate for the carb (I believe this is the metal peice that rotates the carb 90 degrees. If you think that a gasket should be used, you can get a sheet of paper gasket at the local parts store, and cut your own, using the two surfaces you want to gasket as a template. I would use the thinest gasket paper you can find for this.

as for the shroud, I beleive that you are talking about the raised collar on the manifold, that is actually smaller than inside diameter of the spacer. the spacer sitting on the manifold, then bolted down (the carb actually does this when you tighten the bolts...) creates the airtight seal, not the reaised collar....

[scatterling]

looking at the exploded diagram on page 14 of Rovers North Series book there is a gasket between the manifold and the phenolic block, one between the phenolic block and the base and one between the base and the carb. They also have both the base and the phenolic block for sale . Maybe pricey??
Good luck

[bamarover]

Well, after many conversations with people all over the country, including one with weber direct, which was pretty intimidating (more on that later) we decided to replace the Weber with a Zenith.
Out of the box, a bit of adjustment and boy, she runs really good!

The Weber Direct guy told me that he needed to know what ALL of the jets were before he could help, not just the idle jet, which means taking the carb apart. He kept saying (argumentatively) that the factory idle jet for that carb was 052. Ours is 050. As it turns out in doing more research, the factory for 34ICT is 052. He really either was not listening or was just plain uninformed. I told him multiple times we had 34 ICH. As it turns out, factory setup is 050 on the ICH. It seems this carb really is an aftermarket deal which means no information on LR specifically, which means you have to be willing to tune the entire carb (all jets) if you want the thing to work right.
Our experience was that our 34ICH ran lean with the 050 idle jet (the only one easy to get to) and it took 4-5 turns out of the mixture screw to get it enough fuel to run, but being wide open (no control) it was all of a sudden too rich (lots of black smoke and fouled plugs). No in between. I believe with willingness to procure multiple jets for the 3 or 4 it has to change, one that knows what is going on and has access to emissions equipment, the carb could be tuned. Anyone who puts this carb on and makes a few adjustments and it works is just plain lucky!
We will see how Zenith does over time, but it looks pretty godd right now.
Thanks for all of your help
Greg