Hello all.
Im barred from the Tech section so Im posting here whare the traffic is thick.

Ive seen in another thread that one of our friends from Romania has used the carb from a Dacia on a b14 to get greater MPG returns. (stop rolling your eyes! you know you loves mpgs!)

So, has anyone else tried alternative carbs with any mpg success?

If so, what?

And if not, how would a I go about ascertaining what would be better than the standard?

Suppose I could buy and try, but that seems a little stupid.

Cheers all.

not sure why you'd bother really, i used to get 50 miles to a fiver on my 1.4 volvos combined driving. although my mk2 wasnt great on fuel, but was still the same engine set up - weird things, carbs .

valman wrote:not sure why you'd bother really, i used to get 50 miles to a fiver on my 1.4 volvos combined driving. although my mk2 wasnt great on fuel, but was still the same engine set up - weird things, carbs .

Im getting Ghash all atm.

150 mile on last tank. (Well im down to the light after a top up to the brim)

92 mile of that was i straight, clear 60mph run.

All ignition parts are new. Im gonna do an oil and filter change but I cant see that making a GREAT difference.

my one 1.4's alright probably get about an average of 80-90 miles on a tenner but then the 1.7 is alot better on fuel and my 360 carb is like the same as my 1.4 but if its motorway miles the 360 is alot better than the 1.4 as it pulls the weight alot easier.
the problem with the 1.4 is you've got to rev it to SH*# to get it to pull its weight and it strains the little 1.4.

naa not true, a 360 (even carbed) will use more fuel than any 340 under normal driving.
340 1.7 is slightly more economic than a 340 1.4 but under all sercumstances the engine and carb have to be in good condition, if it is you don't even need to rev it to shit to get it going

i'd rebuild the carb rather than trying to find something else that works more economical. the crazy dutch volvo engineers have painstakinly had B14's on the dyno trying to get a perfect economical and performing tune with the 32Dir and renix ignitions so if all original parts are in OK state, there really isn't a lot to improve on such a setup.

volvodspec wrote: i'd rebuild the carb rather than trying to find something else that works more economical. the crazy dutch volvo engineers have painstakinly had B14's on the dyno trying to get a perfect economical and performing tune with the 32Dir and renix ignitions so if all original parts are in OK state, there really isn't a lot to improve on such a setup.

Cheers man. Thats interesting.

Carb itself is giving no obvious "bad vibes". Idles sweet, starts up fine, no obvious probs. Just drinking a lot.
I'll take rebuild advice under advisement.

Do they do "Drive like a granddad" courses round your way?

Don't count the 150 from when you see the lights.

Brim, drive, light, then refill and note mileage. Then you can say for sure how much juice has got you 150 miles down the round. On a run I can get 33-34 mpg (* 8.3-8.6 l/100km) out of my Vario, and I tend to do about 70mph. I must admit with your old one* the needle was all over the place.

*just to clarify - your old one when I drove it when John had it, ahem.

volvosneverdie wrote:All ignition parts are new. Im gonna do an oil and filter change but I cant see that making a GREAT difference.

And how are the tank hoses at the rear?

macplaxton wrote:

volvosneverdie wrote:All ignition parts are new. Im gonna do an oil and filter change but I cant see that making a GREAT difference.

And how are the tank hoses at the rear?

Look ok through the inspection reticule. No smell of petrol in or around the car and I cant see anything wet or dripping.

I do drive in an eco-mungus manner most of the time. Not much point booting a B14 really. Just goes loud.

Im gonna work out the actual mpgs (via clever iphone app, not my spastic mind) when I fill up. Just need enough monet to fill the tank now!!!

You do remember to push choke in and you don't have brakes on when driving?

150 miles is quite horrible, imo. If that would be half tank it still would not be very great, but on city perhaps possible, I can't think how that would be possible without some major issues, it is only 1.4l unit.

Do you use petrol that has more ethanol in it, like E10 or something like that? I doubt that it would be ok with those fuel lines that seem to fail with regular petrol too.

Funny thing is that you can't see petrol leak from those hoses very well, if those are original fabric covered just replace them, every one of them.

Get car up, one corner at time is enough and test that wheels rotate easily, just to make sure there is no lurking brake issues.

Choke can be such that even if you push it in fully, it is not completely off, cable adjustment then is needed. With my Solex there was quite bit of that issue, with other carb I was amazed how easy it was to operate, original one was quite bit stuck and haven't yet found reason for that.

jtbo wrote:You do remember to push choke in and you don't have brakes on when driving?

150 miles is quite horrible, imo. If that would be half tank it still would not be very great, but on city perhaps possible, I can't think how that would be possible without some major issues, it is only 1.4l unit.

Agreed on the "quite horrible".
Thanks dude.

Brakes: seem ok. Not obviously binding. I'll check though. I still need to find where the brake fluid is leaking from.

Choke: The cars that good that I only use choke to start the engine. Have it full off before I pull away. Runs fine.

volvosneverdie wrote:

jtbo wrote:You do remember to push choke in and you don't have brakes on when driving?

150 miles is quite horrible, imo. If that would be half tank it still would not be very great, but on city perhaps possible, I can't think how that would be possible without some major issues, it is only 1.4l unit.

Agreed on the "quite horrible".
Thanks dude.

Brakes: seem ok. Not obviously binding. I'll check though. I still need to find where the brake fluid is leaking from.

Choke: The cars that good that I only use choke to start the engine. Have it full off before I pull away. Runs fine.

just put the car in neutral down a smooth slope while going about 40 if it picks up speed brakes will be fine - how i found out the brakes were binding on my first 1.4 but that was caused by water being in the circuit

volvosneverdie wrote:Choke: The cars that good that I only use choke to start the engine. Have it full off before I pull away. Runs fine.

Thats why you have no mpg's

You should be able to have the choke in pretty soon on a 1.4, but not that soon! You are running rich bud.

Yeah, was just about to post this ^^. You should need choke for a little while longer than that

Chris_C wrote:
Thats why you have no mpg's

You should be able to have the choke in pretty soon on a 1.4, but not that soon! You are running rich bud.

SteveP wrote:Yeah, was just about to post this ^^. You should need choke for a little while longer than that

Its always been running a bit rich by the hand over the exhaust covered in soot test. (from when I first owned it).

Guess its time to address it then!


Is it just a case of winding down the mixture screw?

Sure that must be covered in the Haynes lies but im at work atm.