Weber DCOE history

Does anyone know when the Weber DCOE style carbs were first sold? I can't find anything on the 'net to tell me.

thanks,
James

 

I first saw them in the early 60s, they may date from the 50s.

 

DCO stands for Doppio Corpo Orizontale ( Two Barrel Sidedraft ), and the E is for the type.

The DCO was a early sand cast version ( '50s ), dont know exactly when the DCOE was introduced, but I'd guess some time in the '60s.

 

Not sure when they were first released but I know for sure that Shelby mounted 4 DCOE's on a 260 Ford in a Cobra prototype in 1962

 

I wonder if they found their way on to any American engines around the late 50s / early 60s then....Anyone have any pictures of such a thing? That's the sort of scheme I have in mind...

 

I always thought 4 DCOE's on a Flatty would be really cool, and size wise, 40's ( the easyest size to find, used ) would probably be about right for a Street Motor.

 

and Chevy

 

Yeah, IDA's are cool too...

 

Wonder if 4 of those is about the same as a Hilborn set up ?

 

That 40 IDA 3C (originally used in pairs on Porsche 911) looks cool on the flat motor

 

More streetable.

They have a real Idle circuit, and are a lot better on gas than a Hillborn type setup would be.


Biggest mistake that I see with Weber setups on the street is that people try to use carbs that are too big.

You do gain a couple of HP at high RPM with a bigger carb, but you get a worse signal all though the rev range, so they are harder to tune and much more tempremental.

I had a set of 40's on a 1600cc inline4 with the smallest venturi's I could find.

It gave me a lot more torque, maybe slightly more high RPM HP ( didn't matter much, the engine had a pretty low Redline anyway ) and much better fuel economy than the stock progressive stock 2 barrel downdraft carb.
The difference in gas mileage was even bigger if you stood on it.

Can you tell I kinda like these carbs?

 

Here's the Shelby version in 62 on the Dyno

 

hmm ,,obsession ?? yeah got a lot of the 48's those things are monsters

 

Yep...





I'd love to get a set of 48's when my financial situation improves a little...

 

If anyone has any extra 48's or 50's DCOE I am in the market for 4 units. I will consider just about any condition...

.

 

Really How many ya want ,,lol

 

A good place to look for the larger DCOE sizes (45-50) is the various forums which cater to the Mazda Rotary guys. There are several different manifolds on the market for running a single DCOE on the wankels, and they don't run on anything smaller than a 45, so the rotary guys tend to hoard them.

Try:

ausrotary.com
nopistons.com
rx7club.com

And look in the forum sections that are specific to the vintage cars (1st generation Rx7 and older pre-Rx7 70s models.) Those are the guys who run these set ups.

James

 

Weber carbs are great. easy to tune, used in europe for years, I think from the 50S. The venturis are changable( there called chokes in Europe) the jets are very easy to change, just take a wing nutted cover off and ALL the jets are there without TAKING ANYTHING APART. Most of the throttle shafts are run in ball bearings, the metal is hi alloy. They don't have choke plates, they have an enrichment circuit. I worked on them and you can tell I like them. they are pricey now, but I remember buying side drafts for $150 ea. We took the CIS FI off a Porsche and put on Webers it idled better and what a differance when you mashed it.



Ago

 

Many Thanks James. I am always looking for leads.


Gary

 

I ran the same 48 IDA's for over 12 years on six different VW's. Great carbs! The smaller 40 DCNF's were used on Ferraris and many other Sports Cars. I wish I could find my pic of the four-throat Webers used on the GT 40's! They had the FORD logo right in the middle of the casting. I always thought it would be cool to run two 48 IDA's,inline on a Flatty.

 

My buddy ran two 45 DCOE's on his Datsun 510. It ripped!!!

 

So you guys think DCOEs would be cool on a ford flatty? That's actually what I'm contemplating. I'm sorta surprised that nobody already makes a manifold to do it.

 

Yeah, I think that could be really cool.

Be carefull with what kind of airfilters you buy for it, some of them will make it look StreetRodder-ish.
Other than that... Go for it.

 

This one? It's an Autolite, not a Weber.

 

I have a 4 48IDA setup on an old Moon manifold, which I was told is from the 60's. I love the look, but what a pain in the ass to get them to run perfect.

 

NO SHIT! I always thought they were Webers...what do you know!!! Learn something new all the time,LOL...

 

Ya think eh? Try dual 58 DCO/A3 for size then! Came on the 1952/53 Ferrari 500 F2 and 1954 Ferrari Monza... and before you get all hot and bothered about using one as a hot rod engine (yes I admit I thought about it years ago), last time I inquired the going rate for a replica engine only (yes they can be reproduced) was over $100k! But that is some serious hot rod porn there.

 

I saw a flatty a while back that used a 4 barrel manifold with a dual sidedraft adapter on it with two DCOE's. Looked pretty wild, sure not traditional but different.

 

I'm looking forward to hearing how this runs with this clifford/48 IDA set-up. thinkin' i might have to some serious detuning for my motor. i saw the short-block that ran this, crazy looking pop-ups, aluminum rods, trick crank, etc. i have experiance with SU Hitachi stromberg multi carb set-ups, can i just use my old 1 barrel synchrometer, or do these require something special?

 

i got 2 mikuni solex 40's. need to replace a bolt but other than that they are prime XD