Its Beautiful

"TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts" (the-vancen) 03/18/2015 at 12:50 • Filed to: Capri, John Player Special, Solex

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Probably the only Gottmann triple carb intake for a Capri this side of the Atlantic. Complete with three Solex 2 barrels, worth over 1000 CFM. And it was bolted to a 2.8 litre V6. Madness!

I'll admit, I don't know much about this setup, apart from what car it came off of. It came off of my father's 1975 Ford Capri John Player Special. This is the induction set up it ran when it was raced in the German Touring Car series in the mid seventies, but it hasn't been on the car since then because it isn't very streetable and it now has an enormous turbo charger breathing down its throat.

Here's the car in question. I know its a German plate, but we do live in Ontario. Its just a sunny day car so the police don't bother us about it much unless the Kingston Police see us. They don't like any one.

And the current turbo'd setup. I know the gold intercooler pipes are horrid, they are being powder coated black.

In case you cant read it, the lettering on the side of the carb says,

SOLEX

GmbH & Co KG

Made in

W-Germany

40-42 CCI

I'm assuming the 40-42 is the cab model number, if you know chime in in the comments. I may be talking out my ass here, but the more I look at them the more I think they look a bit like DCOEs.

Gottmann Tuning, the company that made the intake manifold is long gone, a Google search returning not much other than an old PDF file that looks like an ancient parts catalogue from 1976, which makes sense since the intake would have to have been available over the counter from Ford so they could use it in the class that the car raced in.

But this looks just like a MOPAR Six Pack or a GM Tri Power you say! In fact the only thing it shares with those is the number of carburetors. Unlike the Tri Power or Six Pack, this setup has each barrel of each carb plumbed directly to its own cylinder, making each intake runner exactly the same length, but also preventing any kind of progressive throttle linkage like the Six Pack. This was a racing car, they weren't interested in the outside carburetors shutting off at part throttle. It was either on or off.

Another reason they aren't very streetable is the fact that they don't have a choke of any kind.

This side is where the linkage for the accelerator pumps live. Watching all of them move in unison is like watching the exposed insides of an old mechanical clock.

One of three things will happen with these some time in the future,

ONE- They sit around collecting dust for another 20 years

TWO- They get bolted on the engine I'm currently building for the Crapri, that's my rusty 77 not the JPS

THREE- My favorite option, we have a plenum built for the JPS so we can run these carburetors with the turbo.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts 03/18/2015 at 12:56

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Ooh, a ca. '95 Caravan! You hardly ever see them that color.
Yes, I'm just weakly trolling. Great post.

JGrabowMSt > TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts 03/18/2015 at 12:57

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Bolt those things on and don't go turbo, let them stand out.

It'll look and sound amazing.

It wasn't made to sit and collect dust.

crowmolly > TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts 03/18/2015 at 12:59

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If anybody says this is just like any of the Holley 3x2 setups, try to contain your laughter.

1000+ CFM on a 2.8 V6? Yeah, no joke that's not streetable!

I like the linkage and IR setup this has. Very clean.

For Sweden > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 03/18/2015 at 12:59

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This is the first time in a long time that anyone saw '87 in the wild

Snuze: Needs another Swede > TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts 03/18/2015 at 12:59

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Where was this photo taken? For some reason it reminds me of Carlisle.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > For Sweden 03/18/2015 at 13:04

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O_O
You could be right. Form the posse.

TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts > Snuze: Needs another Swede 03/18/2015 at 13:05

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It was in fact taken at Carlisle. Fords at Carlisle specifically. Probably 2004 or 2005.

TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts > JGrabowMSt 03/18/2015 at 13:06

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I think youre right.

RallyWrench > TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts 03/18/2015 at 13:09

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I do not have enough stars to give for such porn. Lovely bits, lovely cars. I'd say let those carbs breathe free & make their glorious noise sans turbo. Converting & managing those as a blow-through setup would likely be very difficult. 40-42 CCI is indeed the model number, and denotes the possible size of the throats.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts 03/18/2015 at 13:20

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Another reason they aren't very streetable is the fact that they don't have a choke of any kind.

It's not unusual for a Solex to not have a normal choke. Some have a bypass tube that's used in lieu of a choke, and that works with the "choke" pulled, but the throttle all the way off. It uses the throttle butterfly almost like a choke and just routes air around. You're correct that it's called a 40-42, by the way. It's apparently one used on some Saabs with V4s.

Knowing that Solexes effectively balance their fuel flow based on air pressure, I'm guessing that it's just designed to run super-rich at idle and use the balance air as "extra" air around the butterfly+ fuel, thus obviating the need to have a choke - sort of.

crowmolly > crowmolly 03/18/2015 at 13:29

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Oh, and a choke is probably unnecessary if it's a fair weather car.

TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 03/18/2015 at 15:40

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Ahh, that helps a lot.

TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts > crowmolly 03/18/2015 at 15:42

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I need to convince my father to let me use these on the engine I'm building for the Rusty Capri.

TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts > RallyWrench 03/18/2015 at 15:42

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The throats are almost two inches across. Probably why they breathe so well.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts 03/18/2015 at 15:46

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I should note - using the Solexes with a turbo would probably be a bitch and a half, because they're designed to offer a certain amount of fuel based on air pressure. Fuck with the air pressure actually in the throat, and it would likely be almost impossible to trick them into working right. No jets to be adjusted to fix that, because they're all fixed, and no easy way to rebalance the reference air/"outside" pressure without building an extra leg thing into your plenum somehow. Solexes are weird, man.

TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 03/18/2015 at 16:02

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Hmm, that's good news for me. Better chance I get to use them if they won't work on his engine.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts 03/18/2015 at 16:08

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"Won't" is a strong word, but it's more concise than "Making that work right will suck all the balls. All of them." Heck, some Solexes require an extra spring-loaded gizmo valve thingy to be added to the outside just for operating in the Rockies - can you imagine what operating at any real boost would do, being as it's FUBAR in the opposite direction? Worst case, you get no fuel and the carb rejects it backward through the breather hole and soaks the engine. Erm, I don't know about you, but *I'd* rather not.

lonestranger > TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts 03/20/2015 at 03:22

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I thought that in Kingston, everything's legal as long as you don't get caught?

In all seriousness, cool share. I haven't seen any cool Cologne stuff in a while.

TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts > lonestranger 03/20/2015 at 03:27

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There will be more. We are waiting on head bolts for the JPS, but once they come in, expect a video update. It will make noise soon.