Weber vs SU vs Delorto Carbs - Are they that different?

[sgtBerbatov]

Forgive my ignorance, but I've grown up in an age of fuel injection so I'm not knowledgeable on carburettors. But I'm about to start a project on a Lada 2101 and from what I've read it uses a copy of a Weber carb, and the purchase of a proper Weber is recommended as a good upgrade for the engine. But then when I look at carburettors in general I see people talk about SU carbs, and then today on another forum post some one mentions Dellorto carbs. The feeling I get from various posts I read is that there seems to be two camps, Weber and SU, and then Dellorto seem to be forgotten.

So do the different manufacturers of carburettors make a difference to the performance of them? Or is it just personal preference to the brand of carbs? Like people thinking Honda is better than Toyota etc.

[HealeyV8]

Dellorto and Weber are the same type of carburettor just different makes like Holley vs Weber/Carter for 4 barrell downdraft. You always get those who swear by one make . SU carbs are a different type. Personally I prefer the Dellorto / Weber type.
You tend to see this type rather than SU on period racing engines.

[E-bmw]

Also Weber seem to be generally more reliable & easier to set up/keep on tune, IMHO.

[stevieturbo]

Use whatever is most suitable for your engine....and you can get support for in terms of parts and tuning.

Actual manufacturer...means little.

[gordmac]

Are you talking single downdraught or twin sidedraught? If the latter Alfa used to fit both Weber and Dellorto, the latter gave marginally better power/economy.

[sgtBerbatov]

gordmac said:

Are you talking single downdraught or twin sidedraught? If the latter Alfa used to fit both Weber and Dellorto, the latter gave marginally better power/economy.

I'm talking just in general really. I haven't looked in to the types of carbs available. As I said, it's just when you see references to carbs on the internet it's usually along the lines of "A Weber carb would be a good addition" etc.

For my project, hopefully, I'm enlarging the engine and changing the carb to something non-Soviet. But that's a way off yet.

[227bhp]

I remember the Dellortos always sounded deeper and louder than the Webers, don't know why.

[100SRV]

Briefly SU and Zenith-Stromberg are variable venturi carburettors which provide excellent fuel/air metering over a wide range of airflow rates. Also they cope well with varying air density (altitude compensation) because of the variable venturi design.

The Dellorto, Weber, Solex, Zenith type are fixed venturi/choke type and offer less restricted airflow hence their use on competition engines. They need the fuel jet(s) changing if the vehicle is used at a different altitude to where the mixture ratio was set (no air density compensation).

[Nigel18tillidie]

Delloto raceing carbs Italion very good rep on bikes as well allways used webber when we were young 60s did not bother about how much fuel used if it went well , and thay did ,made special pipes to make them fit ,

[Nigel18tillidie]

We also used sromberg on enything to get better perfomance ,