You could get a Solex that was a copy of the Weber WCOE. Not progressive. I can recall seeing some japenese imports with them way back when (that would be high end Jap junk). On some of the Datsun Z cars they also ran a Solex that was a copy of an SU. I'll just about bet that if you look hard enough you could find a Solex copy of about every performance carb ever made. That's not to badmouth the company they made a good carb (I don't know about today).
Would the Harley CV carb work? They are a popular side draft for Samuria's and cheap- ~$70 used. You would have to build adapters but pretty simple ones.......... David
Where is the $200 eBay manifold built? Chances are it's an offshore ripoff copy of the Moon manifold.
When i was at Moon last year they gave me a tour round the shop they showed me these intakes as they were being made in different stages, they also had a repro one there and when you compared the two the difference in quality was very very obvious, 1. your paying for American labour rather than chinese labour, 2. the quality of the material is a damn site better, 3 when you look at the shape of these close up you realise that the polishing then welding the parts together then repolishing must be very labour intesive, 4. Moon probably spent a shit load of time developing them so they have to recoop their costs and lastly they are Moon so the real deal and your always going to pay for that...
. Isn't Moon Japanese owned?? I'm just saying..... http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...witem=&sspagename=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_2892wt_752
I usually shop local and try to refrain to buy stuff from jegs, speedway, etc. let alone a cheap chinese knock-off, but I just bought one of these. I figure its the configuration i need, there are no moving parts, and doesnt need to be very good casting since im going to modify it anyway. I am going to use it for a budget EFI setup, but I think if I was going to sink a couple grand in webers, I'd want the real deal. I'll take some pics when I get it.
i think you are forgetting two very key aspects. 1: the moon intake is polished while this is not. since it is such an intricate intake, it would take many hours or hundreds of dollars to get the same finish. 2: it is an online auction with five days left. the current price is probably not an accurate portrayal of what the final auction price will be. i would not be too surprised if it double or tripled in price by the time the auction ends. -just my opinion!
You need to look a little closer the NON polished moon is $1200!! and the polished it $1400!! The auction listed above sold for $189 plus 19.99 shipping... and if you go to there store they just listed another one for $169...
I spent alot of time in the VW world and have run lots of Webers and once you have them dialed in, they run pretty damn trouble free. It does take some playing to get there though. There are a couple of good books out there that can give you a basic formula for set up based on engine capacity and expected output. My book must be out in the garage, if this thread runs for a bit, I'll dig up the title and author info for you. Price wise, if your not in a hurry to get this up and rolling, Weber DCOEs can be found at swapmeets pretty regularly out in this end of the country, and are not expensive at all. I just helped a friend buy some at the Arizona street rod ass. swap last month for 75.00 for a pair. You would probably want to get four 45mm carbs, and will be stamped as 45DCOE. Cool thing with Webers is that you can REALLY tune stuff do do what you want. Low end not good ? Put in a set of smaller "chokes". Falling on it's face off idle? Larger mains. You do really need to know what the various circuts of a carb do though. Last thing to mention - damn things are impossible to kill short of burning them down. Ball bearings on the throttle shafts can be replaced time after time. This just in... after digging through the shop and finding the Sept.'79 Skateboarder, (I was in that one), tons of eighties popular hotrodding and the Jan.'71 PLayboy, I found the book I was looking for! So much for my finely organized system! The book you need to get is WEBER CARBURETORS by Pat Braden. It was in every VW shop and import speed parts place throughout the eighties and nineties. Shouldn't be too hard to find now. Now where was that Playboy....... hmmmm!!!!!
The book I use when I am working with DCOEs is from SpeedProSeries, How to build & Power Tune Weber & Dellorto by Des Hammill. Good info. on Dcoe, Dco/sp and Dhla carbs. I like the later series 152 - 45 Dcoes because of the idle air by-pass system. Much easier to get a good idle on some motors.
fair enough! i'll admit when i am wrong and i was obviously completely mistaken. i have no idea except for the fact that moon is moon and if people are willing to pay it i guess they may as well charge it.
Yeah I'm sure you are right about all the versions out there. The only experiance I have with solexes are the ones on my Alfa 2600. The police cars got Webers, but you had to modify the intake so that it seperated the runners for the webers to get better metering
i got the manifold on friday. it is pretty sweet! the casting lines are a tiny bit rough in some areas and the manifold looks like it could be cleaned better(still a bit sandy from casting) but its not bad at all for 200 bones shipped. i dont have any close up pics before i drilled the injector bosses.
The cost of the carb's is high, BUT don't forget that you have to have 8 (eight) of ever thing (seven different changeable parts) it takes to keep them set up for best operation. I had them on a 292" chevy I6 and it took a large tool box of parts to keep them in tune. When they were RIGHT they were great. It's only $$$$$$.
Properly set Webers are dead reliable, with snappy acceleration and no flat spots. The most common problems are using too large venturi's (Every ignorant kid knows, Bigger is better, I wanna go really fast ) and poorly set float levels. If the basic component are wrong you will give up in frustration, jets alone cannot correct basic flow errors. A large change in elevation may require a jet change, but since everything is accessible without having to dismantle the carb it's not a big deal. I am working on a one of a kind Weber cross-ram for my 380" (348 block - 409 crank) "W" engine. After this evenings frustration with an Edelbrock 1406 on a 350, I would like to put Weber's on everything I own!
I have The moon polished intake, with 4 solex carbs. Will post a couple of pics. for your viewing pleasure. and also so you can see what you are going to up against when you start to put everything together.
I had a 1406.... I never noticed the weber markings on it.... Anyway I got rid of it along with the '83.5 GT Mustang it was attached too...
Webers look cool and are worth the effort. This is my setup, but I have a friend who is very knowledgeable with them which helps a lot.
Ramaro What will you be using for throttle bodys ? Are you using mega squirt to control it. You should post more i think there are a few of us that want to know more.
Straight scoop - two of my favorite cars I have ever owned were hopped up with aftermarked side-draft Weber 45 DCOEs. The sound those things make through velocity stacks is pure sex, and the performance is fantastic . . . but they are road race stuff. They were just never intended for cars with engines that weren't going to see high RPMs. They are great carbs, once they are dialed in they are freakin awesome, but don't stick em on your car for looks - not for the manifold or the carbs. Are you going to race? Are you going to wind that motor out? Then go for it. Otherwise, look elsewhere. There is a reason they were standard on Alfa Romeos, Ferraris, and so on.
I think it has some Weber engineering, not made by. I see the Weber logo, and approve of the one piece body and fuel bowls. I do not think it is made by Weber, although I understand there are now some inferior U.S. made Weber's available. I may have found the real source of my Edelbrock frustration, #5 exhaust lobe is flat on the cam! (Lousy zinc free oil!)
That Moon crossram intake manifold is a thing of beauty when fully assembled.. Thanks for the pictures guys!
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