Solex diagram - exploded view and tips

[Rodger]

So so true mike an all to common problem.

I have seen several sets of Solexes wasted or swapped for Weber/Dellorto because they could not be made to work, simply because idle screws have been too damaged or broken off, like you found in yours.

If they are not too damaged or broken and if you are good with a fine file and have a drill press, idle mixture screws can be successfully re-profiled. I do it all the time.

PM me Mike if you need any.

Regards

Rodger

[o_man_ra23]

In the pictures, screws 1,2 and 3 are positioning screws which hold in place the venturi. Not too sure about number 4.

Cheers, Owen

[mike1980ra40]

above post was updated and those were the bits in the best condition.
and the last person to do a dyno said they couldn't figure out why it was running rich
and rough ..... wtf???

thanks o man all sorted ..

Rodger.... I need new ones or good replacements will send a pm after this ..

cheerz

[floppy]

mike I pretty much had the same thing, broken off tips in the passages.

pulled em out, got some more from Rodger (the solex man)

and mine were running great after that. (well and the rest of the kit I put through as well.)

Dave

[mike1980ra40]

Hi floppy
yep i contacted Rodger as well, he has the parts i needed so all should be good
soon. He's the man :-D got my rebuild kits from B&M in victoria so I'll be all set soon
mention the word solex to anyone in adl and they go "nup dunno, dont wanna know"
I used a small allen key to push the broken bits out. they were wedged in good and proper.

cheers

[floppy]

Yeah I only found one guy local to me who had any knowledge on the Solex's, the rest of the info I got from the helpful guys here, again specifically rodger who was patient enough to go through a lot of stuff with me in one of topics.

Once I pulled them apart I realised that there wasnt too much to fixing them up. The hard part I guess is finding jets to play with, although I didn't end up changing any on mine.

That might change when I get this other engine rebuilt and finally go to a dyno to get some decent data. The inexperienced one looking at the colour of the plugs etc isnt the best way to tune One day I hope to be able to just look at the plugs and listen to the each throat and know what needs changing.

Dave

[o_man_ra23]

Motorbike shops are a good place to get helpful advice for tuning solexes, as a lot of jap motorbikes until very recently used quad mikuni carbs, which have similar setups to the twin mikuni solexs. Plus they should have a 4 way manometer to be able to set them with.

Cheers, Owen

[sillycar chick]

Solex Gurus: I am in dire need of some assistance

Yesterday on the way to work my 10 month old electric facet fuel pump died. I replaced it with a new one that evening, and drove back to work (1/2 hour trip) with no problems. This morning I left for work, and got 10 mins from home when the thing started to cut out on me. Checked the fuel pump and it sounded like it was working fine. Had to get the thing towed home, and after work I changed the fuel filter.

But it still hasnt fixed the problem. I drove it up the road and it worked fine for a few seconds, then started to cut out, then worked again, then cut out etc till I got it back to the driveway. It died once I let off the throttle

So now I am stuck as I cant work out what it is. I am sticking with my theory at this stage that its something fuel related since the fuel pump is what caused the problem in the first place. I have taken all the jets out of the top of the carbies and blown them out with compressed air in the hope of dislodging any crap that may have got through, but it has been unsuccessful

Is there anything else in the carbies that could be playing up? Something dislodged? I am thinking of checking the needles and floats tomorrow provided they are easy enough to get with, along with doing a complete check over including plugs, timing, compression test etc to eliminate as many possibilities as possible.

Thanks guys...

[mike1980ra40]

Hi there,
I'm not to familiar with your engine ... it sounds a lot like what happened to me.
I had a very similar fault with my engine, and found that my screen filters ( inside the
fuel banjos) were very dirty and clogged, and also the reason my engine was cutting out was
the front gear timing was out which threw the cams out a bit.

edit: also check the needle valve for the floats.

[river]

Hi,

How much pressure is the new fuel pump delivering?

I'm wondering if it's deliverying too much pressure for your carbs.

seeyuzz
river

[sillycar chick]

Ok carbies are pefectly fine the brand new pump died on me, and now the old pump is back in and working fine All we can put it down to was a bad earth in the first place... thanks anyway

[o_man_ra23]

what a Silli car you have

Cheers, Owen

[mike1980ra40]

Basic idle tuning

Hi people got the thing running and is ten times better (thanks to rodger )
once the carbs are back on the motor screw idle screws all the way in then back out 1 1/2
turns. start up motor and get to normal running temp.
grab an old towel (light coloured) or white rag and hold it over the tail pipe and count to
10 and hold ya breath !!! (1 1000, 2 1000 etc) check the colour of the circle and if its black
turn screws in a quarter let motor settle and put rag over tail pipe and check again.
keep doing that until theres no change in colour on the rag. image below ...

that'll make the engine good enough to drive on and get tuned on a dyno or gas analizer

Cheers.



edit: rebuild went A OK on no 2 carb, there is no airflow at all on no.1, there is spark on all
4 leeds and engine feels like its only running on 2 cyls, and its idling like its on 2.

[joey]

A little bit off topic but here goes....
I've been having mixed opinions to whether my twin 40mm solexs are running rich or if it's just how they are. Symptoms are:
1. Everytime i change gears (mostly from 1st to 2nd) i get black smoke coming out my exhaust, not alot but i can see it in my rear vision mirror.
2. I seem to be going through alot of fuel (can't be sure if mine is going through more than they normally should be though through lack of expieirience with carbd engines).
3. Was at Ians place today and he has a fairly steep driveway, when going up it slowly the carbs seemed to cut out a bit, but giving it more juice kept it going. (makes me think a float problem?)
4. And finally, did a defence driving course last sunday (was a 40 degree day) and the carbs practically shat themselves, they were jamming in mid-high rpm and at idle were conking out (temp was only between 80-90 degrees), although once at home and had been given a break and a chance to cool down they ran fine.

Are these symptoms of running rich or just how the solexs run (tempremental and hungry)?
Oh by the way i had them rebuilt and tuned about 2-3 weeks ago.... maybe a bodgy tune?

Cheers, Joey

[mike1980ra40]

I'm going slightly OT aswell
I had similar problems too except no black smoke. problems now are worse carbs rebuilt, no.1 is F***** no 2 is fine.
1. air filters saturated in fuel
2. disgusting fuel economy ie 65 liters = 300k's
3. rough idling, rough running
4. no airflow thru pots 1 and 2
5. non molested 18RC with single niki carb has more grunt, cant climb a
5 degree incline in 1st. this is after the last dyno. Car is going back for yet
another check up on monday and if those carbs cant be sorted out, I'll
piss'em off and get webers. Edit unless I find matched replacement carbs ....
there a good carb simple and to the point, unfortunately mine are fully rooted.