Re: Solex carbs

[Ed Lutz <edlutz@domain.elided>]

John,
I have no documentation pertaining to Dellortos as used on cars
however I have spent an inordinate amount of time working on Dellorto
motorcycle carbs. All the Dellorto factory documentation I have spells the
name as Dellorto, one word with a small "o".

Ed

Thursday, December 13, 2001, 12:30:27 PM, you wrote:

JH> Henry Kim asked:

JH> I'm looking at a European Alfa with Solex carbs.  The seller says
JH> original equipment.  True?  Anyone have experience with them?  I know on
JH> the Mercedes 190SL, the first thing any owner does is ditch them.  But
JH> they were circa 1960.  Did they improve in the 70s?

JH>  The Solexs (Solices?) used on the 190 SL and on some Alfa 1900s, 2000s,
JH> and 2600s were a design which looked like a Weber/Dellorto twin-throat
JH> (one throat per cylinder) but normally ran on one throat for each pair of
JH> cylinders and kicked-in the second throat on demand, and they are not
JH> universally beloved. Not all Solex carbs bear this stigma; the standard
JH> carbs for the Giulietta and some Giulias was a single twin-throat Solex
JH> downdraft, and its performance was exemplary, although some tinker-prone
JH> owners converted to a single twin-throat Weber downdraft which was
JH> reputed to be an improvement, at least in the panache of the name.

JH>  Solexes of the more familiar one-throat-per-cylinder sort were alternate
JH> factory original equipment on 105 Alfas before Dellortos and continued at
JH> least though the Alfettas- how much longer I can't say. The Owners
JH> Manual for the Giulia Super had a Solex sheet as an insert, suggesting it
JH> wasn't an alternate from the first but was soon after. The Parts Books
JH> for the Giulia Sprint variants show Webers and Solexes, but no Dellortos,
JH> as alternate fitments on the Sprint GT and GTC, but a different Weber
JH> subtype as the only one on the Sprint GT Veloce, which may support Andys
JH> linking of the Solex to less demanding performance applications.

JH>  My understanding has been that Webers have long been King of the Hill
JH> partly due to primogeniture and resulting panache, and partly due to
JH> their relatively modular, tinkerable design, and consequent broad
JH> application on performance cars, and also on the broader availability of
JH> parts and of aftermarket tuning manuals, but that for stable applications
JH> there is nothing wrong with either Dellortos or Solexes. Ben Higgins
JH> very favorable experience with Solex seems to confirm the possible
JH> advantage of a dedicated application over a more complex design for
JH> variable applications. The design character of Webers versus the others
JH> may be reflected in the parts books listing kits of parts for the Webers
JH> but sets of gaskets only for the Dellortos and Solexes.

JH>  The 105 Catalogo Rapido lists no fewer than forty-four different part
JH> numbers for the various Webers, Dellortos and Solexes used on various
JH> 105s, half of them just fronts versus rears, but seven pairs being
JH> antipolluting variants and a few pairs being for RHD cars.

JH>  And now a nomenclature question for Leo, Luca, and anyone else who wants
JH> to chime in: many Americans and perhaps some others spell that other carb
JH> DellOrto or dellOrto with an apostrophe, sometimes insisting that that
JH> is more correct in the language, while all Alfa references I have seen
JH> spell it Dellorto, with a small o and no apostrophe. It parallels the de
JH> Dion, De Dion, DeDion question. While I am content to use Alfas spelling
JH> I am mildly curious about the actual spelling of the name of the company
JH> that makes them.

JH>  Cheers

JH> John H.  

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