340 1.7 Ereg 1987 carb ID help?

[antiekeradio]

and assuming the venturis are the same size

that's a "big if", you know

[schakal]

I can't say I agree there Wouter. Given that the Renault-spec engine almost certainly has a different cam at the very least, and assuming the venturis are the same size, why would you suggest keeping the Volvo-spec jets?

cheers

James

james ,do you reckon the carb internals are the same and the power difference comes from the cam difference mate???

[foggyjames]

I reckon both are different, but I'll bet they share the same size venturi. Only way to find out...take apart and check

cheers

James

[schakal]

right guys my problem with the carb has came to an end today
shortly , the jets have been cleaned with drill bits and pressurised air .
and this feckin stub coming from the carb base was blanked out !!!!
as it was withdrawing air in to the base .

on the other hand james ,i have got all the technical info regarding the renault 1.7 solex carburettor (2 different versions ) and i will be putting them up very shortly .
and i would appreciate if one of you guys with a haynes manual could do the same with the volvo 340 carb so that we can all see the differences etc.

the power difference however might be to do with different cams etc as its been mentioned before .

[antiekeradio]

Internal differences are hardly documented.

Only looking at published documentation won't get you much further in comparing the two. If you do a total dismantling and rebuild, you can get an idea.

perhaps it would help you could come again with the point of the whole operation??
want more power? less consumption? or just want to know ??

[schakal]

Internal differences are hardly documented.

Only looking at published documentation won't get you much further in comparing the two. If you do a total dismantling and rebuild, you can get an idea.

perhaps it would help you could come again with the point of the whole operation??
want more power? less consumption? or just want to know ??

there cant be many internal changes in 2 solex 28 34 z10 s in my opinion . jets might be different and i think they are as different numbers are stamped on them .
my float arms on the renault carb were way over and i managed to break the float material while bending the arms for adjustment ,the ones on the volvo were right (33.5 mm ) so i used them in renault carb.

i think i can check the venturis on both carbs by measuring the diameters .


my point at this very moment is to have a running car to be honest ,it was not idling at all a few days ago .
but after that i would like a bit of more power as in good acceleration without the need of big work like porting head , wild cam etc

any suggestions ??

[SteveP]

THREADJACK!

[schakal]

THREADJACK!

ayee ,apologies to volvopandy

but had to be done

[foggyjames]

If you want a bit of extra power, fit a larger carb (twin 36 or 38....Weber DGAS or similar?) and get it jetted.

The internal differences (assuming the same model number) will be the 'consumables' - jets and chokes/venturis.

cheers

James

[volvopandy]

HI Fellas
er I don't know if anyone will read this as it was early April that I last wrote on my 340 predicament. Nevertheless, I promised an update & feel rather embarrassed that it has taken this long to provide one but here goes & I'll try to keep it short-ish!
ok - original prob was: 340 failed MOT on emissions amongst other things; emissions / fumes had always seemed a bit rich so I wasn't too surprised. Thought I could get a bit of adjustment done & all would be solved.
Mechanic acquaintance (he had no reason/motivation to mislead me) told me that carb was drawing in petrol into the other barrel when it shouldn't be, that there was no room left to adjust it & that it was probably well worn & that the easiest solution was to fit a new one.
My initial reaction was that I'd have to scrap the car as a) it was uneconomic to buy a new carb for £200 plus &/or b) I thought that there would be no guaranteee that a second hand carb would be that much better than my old carb & I presumed that it might be a tricky thing for me to do (i'm only a low-grade amateur!) or an expensive thing for a mechanic to do (and I've never had great experiences with mechanics, to be honest!).
This led to two months of 340-less indecision.
Then I came upon 300Mania - I asked my questions & began to get your positive replies & to read & re-read my Haynes...and began to pluck up the resolve not to give up.
So I decided to research the possibility of re-conditioning the old carb and of sourcing second-hand carbs.
You all sound so knowledgable but to be honest I was a bit dazed by the technical terror of re-setting float heights and the such...so I decided to search hard for scrap yards dealing in Volvos...that was no easy task...my LOndon place drew a blank but I discovered a place in Rugby that holds Volvos - I'm from Coventry & spend a lot of time there too so that looked like my best option.
Anyway then I couldn't really get there easily & my Dad was really ill throughout April & early May; but eventually my brother was in Coventry & drove me out to Avon Spares in Rugby.
They had a 340 come in that morning & I had a look at it - it was still running but very rough; took the air filter housing off & the carb looked lovely apart from a big load of gunk - oil or whatever - all over one corner of it & that had gone all over the air filter too - so I thought, "Bugger, that's knackered too!" - went round the yard & there were other Volvos but no Solex 2834z10. I was pretty gutted as I hadn't sourced an alternative - most scrap yards told me that they crush 340s!!!
I had another quick look at the gunky one (in desperation) & found some paperwork inside the car - one of which was a receipt for a carb re-con dated about a year earlier - plus the yard man said that the carb was alright & that the gunk / oil was caused by the engine being knackered.
Soooo, I decided to take a chance, not realising that the yard did a guaranteee anyway (doh!!), - £45 I think it was - thought that was pricey but if it worked then I was happy with it.
Then I had my old carb & the new one on a table & was satisfied that they were identical apart from a coolant hose housing that was attached to my old one, so I swapped that across. I identified what little bolts & rubber washers were missing (to try to limit any possibilities for air leaks etc) & put them all on the new carb.
I then went to the Volvo dealer to try to get gaskets - one for the bottom where it meets the block & one for the top where it meets the air filter housing; got the top one & was surprised that it was just this paper thing but the other thing for the bottom was quite a thick plastic-looking "gasket"
- but then realised that I had two of those anyway - but thought that I should also fit a paper type gasket where it meets the block - as there has been one there before I cleaned it all up.
But the dealer didn't do that separately from some package that was loads of money; looked for gasket paper but couldn't find any in the largest independent car accessories place in Cov or Halfords - eventually someone told me about a small back-street accessories shop & he did gasket paper for 50p a sheet.
Soooo, after making a cardboard template from the block I made my own paper gasket; just used old-skool gasket paste - put that onto both sides of the gasket & plonked the carb on top of that, fitted the four bolts through the carb onto the block, tightened up. Re-attached all the hoses / cables etc. & checked that everything else seemed to be attached to what it should be. Went down the local garage for a jerry can of petrol, put that in. Oh I'd charged up the battery too as the car hadn't moved for over three months.
Anyway, turned over the engine & it sounded very promising but didn't fire; played about with choke & it started!


So I decided to take her up the road & she drove very well but I realised that it was idling at a very low level & wanted to cut out when I took my foot off the accelerator.
Anyway I thought it looked promising & decided to book it in for a new MOT but the bloke was away so I had to wait another two weeks!
In the meantime, I "set" the mixture screw by screwing it to the max then screwing it back about 1 .5 - 2 turns; then I screwed the idling screw around, started her up & fiddled about with that until I felt that it wasn't going to cut out - but I found it very finnicky - my screw-driver kept coming off the screw - so I ended up leaving it running too fast to my ear & too fast as far as I understood the rev counter thing inside the car.
Right - went for the MOT; tried to get the bloke to tell me if the emissions would be ok before getting the welding (that I'd failed on the previous time) done but he was a bit awkward (that fits with my experience of mecjanics again!! - see earlier ref.!) - so I felt that I had to take a chance really.
Anyway, he took all day, but it PASSED!!!!
I was over the moon!
So even though it was running too fast on idle it still passed on the emissions. After I'd got my tax the next day & took the car out again, I started fiddling with the idle screw & seemed to get a bit better at adjusting it & drought it down to a nice purr, just a little above it cutting out. I've left it at that since but have noticed it seems to have increased its speed since then but I've put that down to the hot weather so far but I'll monitor that. Oh I installed a new air filter too, cleaned the housing & all that.
I also put some "Emissions Reducer" liquid into the oil & some "Stop Smoke" in with the petrol - I don't know if that made any difference or not. I couldn't find some of the other liquids recommended & the nearest Shell Station was in Kenilworth so I didn't bother putting in a tank of Optimax that someone recommended.
So I finally got my 340 back on the road on the 7th June 2006!!!
I've done plenty of miles since then; tested it up to 80 (I normally drive at about 60 as I'm the antithesis of the boy racer! ); had no problems whatsoever, she's going like a dream, far better than with the old carb (obviously I guess!), a massive improvement in petrol comsumption - I think I did: Coventry - London - Canterbury - London - Coventry on a tank & still had petrol left (not much but I didn't run out!!! )
So basically - I owe all of you truly superb Volvo-Heads a big thank you
You gave me the confidence not to give up. Even my Dad (who is a hard-nut non-complimentary git) took his hat off to me for getting the 340 back on the road - he said that he would have jacked it in.
So - that is my up-date! sorry it wasn't short!
If anyone wants to ask me anything else - as long as it it isn't technical - please bear in mind I don't really know what I'm talking about but thankfully you lot do!!! - then fire away.
One last time - thank you - Mania - 340s Rule
your student & admirer -
VolvoPandy

[foggyjames]

Congratulations

cheers

James

[MJ]

Well done

[Chris_C]

Good effort! Nothing will get you learned quicker than fiddling, and luckily there are enough guys on here who can fix most c*ck ups we make whilst learning!

[SteveP]

Nice work, glad to hear you've got it back on the road!

[petefarrell360]

Good work indeed. As Chris says, the easiest way to learn is to fiddle, play and sometimes learn from mistakes! I'm glad you've got it working once again!
Pete