Holy crap!!!

[threefittyzee]

Hey folks. I am a fairly new 240Z owner, and I had made a few calls to local shops in town about the price of a new carb...

and DAMN.

I had no idea these things were so expensive!

I was quoted $500-600 for the su carbs...and $1200 for the Weber carbs!

Is this accurate? Or are they just jerking my chain?

If it is correct...do any of you know how I can get a used or reconditioned carb for less than that?

HEEEELP!!!

[Bambikiller240]

The only plae I know to get Remanufactured SU carbs is http://www.ztherapy.com/. They are IMO better than new. I do not know of anyone who can get "new" OEM SU carbs. The prices you mentioned are normal fromk my experience. You can buy rebuild kits much cheaper and try rebuilding your own carbs (the only problem with that is that on most 30 yr old carbs, the throttle shafts are worn and leak air).

[gema]

I've heard nothing but rave reviews concerning the Ztherapy SUs, and I'd rather have them than Webers or Mikunis (originality). Then again, I'm going the turbo swap route to avoid Carbueration....

[Carl Beck]

>Hey folks. I am a fairly new 240Z owner, and I had made a few calls

>to local shops in town about the price of a new carb...

>and DAMN.

>I had no idea these things were so expensive!

>I was quoted $500-600 for the su carbs...and $1200 for the Weber carbs!

I guess you haven't bought many new carb.'s lately ;-)

The $500.00 to $600.00 price SHOULD BE for remanufactured SU's.. not "NEW". As Carl S mentioned.. you can get them from ZTherapy.

BRAND NEW OEM SU's were around $2,200.00 when last listed by Nissan.

>Is this accurate? Or are they just jerking my chain?

Depend on what specifically they are quoting.. there is a large difference between being "rebuilt" with a rebuild kit - and being "re-manufactured" by Z Therapy. Again as Carl S mentioned... the throttle shafts are re-bushed, the aluminum castings are bead blasted, the throttle hardware is replaced etc etc on "re-manufactured SU"... not so on a rebuild kit.

Get specifics.. on anything your thinking of buying..

>If it is correct...do any of you know how I can get a used or reconditioned carb for less >than that?

Used - your buying a pig in a poke... might be good and they might be as bad as what you have. In general - used SU's are in the $150.00 to $175.00 range. Every once-in-awhile you'll see a nearly new set of re-manufactured SU's from Z Therapy on ebay..

I wouldn't recommend the Webers for a 240-Z in any case...

Maybe we should back-up and ask - as a new 240Z owner, what makes you think the carb's are "bad" to begin with? Could be some other problem, could be all they need is cleaning and adjusting... Z Therapy sells a video that shows you how to clean, rebuild and adjust the SU's - - - maybe that's the best place to start...

FWIW,

Carl

Carl Beck

Clearwater,FL USA

http://ZHome.com

[beandip]

I secound the motion. I agree with all that carl said. I have gathered two extra sets of SUs over the years because I know that as time goes on they will become hard to come by and an affordable price. Especially as the 280s age and the electronics become more of a problem. Geting the video from Tharapy is a great bit of advise. :classic:

[SteveK]

Carl

Just out of interest, why wouldnt you recommend webers for a 240Z ?

[hls30.com]

As an owner of a '72 with tripple webbers , I agree with Carl. Get Ztherapy involved with shipping you something, be it a video(first suggestion) or a Set of corrected SUs (with a video to keep them happy).

If you are really set on tripple webbers, I know of a set that will be comming available:stupid: ! (check my gallery for pictures-I have had the car running).

Will

[threefittyzee]

Originally posted by Carl Beck

I wouldn't recommend the Webers for a 240-Z in any case...

Carl Beck

Clearwater,FL USA

http://ZHome.com

Why exactly wouldn't you recommend the Webers?

I need to know this, please.

Thanks.

[2ManyZs]

I think Carl was referring to the dual downdraft Webers and not the triple DCOE's as being more of a problem than the original SU's.

Triple Webers, Mikuni's, Dell Orto's are fine, but, they are fairly expensive to buy and much hard to tune than a set of SU's. And they will require much more maintenance than the SU's to keep in tune and synch.

The dual downdraft Webers are only slightly better than a single 4 barrel in many people's minds as they don't distribute the fuel as well as the stock SU's.

[hls30.com]

2ManyZs pretty much covered it,

Webbers are kind of like an MG. They both run quite well for thirty minutes after you tune them, and then it is time to tune them again!

I want to enjoy my car '72 on a daily basis; and, while I do enjoy tinkering, I don't like having to do the same thing over and over in a relatively small time-frame!

Will

[Carl Beck]

>>Steve ask:

>>Just out of interest, why wouldnt you recommend webers for a 240Z ?

>threefittyzee replied:

>Why exactly wouldn't you recommend the Webers?

>I need to know this, please.

Thanks.

Hi Steve (everyone):

2ManyZ's was pretty close. I assumed from the prices quoted and the alternatives considered, that we were talking about the two downdraft Weber set up.

I would not recommend it because, being down draft carb.'s - the fuel/air has to make a 90 degree turn directly below the carb.'s.. this allows too much raw fuel to pool up in the manifold and makes them very hard to tune properly at all RPM ranges. At twice the price of the SU's you would be getting a car that wouldn't run any better and in most cases I've seen it would run worse. It is possible to get the twin downdraft Webers set-up and running within reason, but it's rare that anyone is able to do it.

Secondly I would not recommend them because you would be spending additional money to reduce the resale value of your 240-Z. Buyers shy away from 240-Z's that aren't, or haven't been, maintained in their stock configurations - they don't want to buy "the unknown", or have to mess with putting it back to stock - unless the price of the car is lowered to justify the risk they think they are taking. So it not only lowers the value of your Z it makes it harder to resell. Everyone says they don't care about the resale value of their Z - UNTILL THEY GO TO SELL IT!!

As for the triple Webers:

My Blue 72 has an L28 with Triple Webers (40DOCE's) on the Cannon manifold - E88 Head, Factory Cam Kit, +1mm Euro Pistons, 5spd and 4.11:1 Torsen/Gleason posi..

Hard To Tune is an understatement!

I bought the Triple Webers around 1974 as I recall - and by 1978 or 79 I finally found a mechanic that could set them up correctly and get the car running the way I thought it should. This was after about five other "Weber Experts" dinked with them, and in most cases made things worse. It always took at least three or four trips back, as we had to order, then reorder different jets, air correction jets, emulsion tubes and accel pump jets... It really all boiled down to a lot of trial and error on my dime..

Most people simply didn't "really" know what they were doing, most didn't have the extensive experience they needed and in-turn I was paying them to learn on my car.. I finally found a guy racing Z's at Daytona, running Webers... and Weber was one of his sponsors.. He had a parts cabinet, supplied by Weber with at least 20 of EVERY PART for any DCOE ever made. He had attended all of Webers Training classes and had been racing them for five years on 240-Z's.. this was all a hobby for him. As his profession he was an Architect. He sat my carb.'s up in one morning, the car ran perfectly at all RPM ranges - and no one has touched them since... In the mean time I transfered them from my original L-24 to my new L-28 and had to change NOTHING.. they simply ran better on the L-28.

Today - given the costs and hassles, and given the experiences of many - I wouldn't recommend the Triple Webers for anything other than "Looks"... they simply look neat and at times they sound pretty good too. From a performance standpoint - the Webers would be of benefit "maybe" on very high speed road courses, or on highly modified racing engines. On an engine you would run on the street, even a pretty highly modified street engine - the SU's will provide performance equal to the Webers with far less trouble.

Another Original Owner in Tampa is running a Rebello prepared L28.. he also tried the Webers..and just couldn't get the performance he felt the car should have... Rebello sent him a set of bored SU's.... the car runs GREAT now..

Today - I'd go to Fuel Injection with a good engine management system -if I didn't run the SU's - long before I'd even dink with the triple Webers... That way, if later you wanted to add a Turbo your investment in both time and money -wouldn't be wasted.

FWIW, just my experience...

Carl