PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - View Single Post - replacement for solex 38 PDSI carburetor?

t walgamuth · #2 10-16-2005, 09:42 AM

about that specific carb. but i have changed numerous carbs on my cars throughout the years. my observation is that an engine is just a big air pump and the carb is designed to mix about 1 to 14 or so of air to fuel. the carb doesnt know how big the engine is it just merrily mixes fuel with any air that flows through. i put a quadrajet on my 3.0 liter bmw. it was a 600 cfm i think. supposedly a 3 liter engine cant use a carb that big, but i figured that at 6000 rpm the 3 liter was pulling as much air as a small block at 3500 and the bmw had hemi heads and was more capable of flowing air than any push rod chebby. (sorry chebby lovers). anyway, it worked excellently as long as i didnt open the mechanical secondaries under 3000 rpm. i also put a single solex on my 52 pontiac in a fuel economy experiment. it was about half the size of the original. the pontiac ran fine up to about 2/3 of its normal rpm and then it was as if i wasnt pushing the gas down anymore. the carb wasn t big enough to supply it any more air. i drove it that way for a while. the fuel mileage was unchanged. 14 to 1 doesnt change no matter how big or small the carb.
but i ramble. i also changed the solex on my 190c from the original flakey solex with a twisting disc choke to a flapper choke solex that i took off my 61 220b parts car. it was a smaller carb but the choke worked and my other one was broken. i made my own adaptor plate. the carb sat on the manifold at an angle cause the bolts had to be offset on my crude but functional plate. it got my by a few more years, worked fine.
in your case, that carb looks like it will drop in like a penny in a gum machine. it will work great. looks like it will bolt on with no adaptor monkey business. you will wonder why you didnt do it long ago (maybe).

good luck. your car is what, about a 65 or so 200? i am guessing from the description of the carbs.

tom w