Elans of this era came with 2 varieties of carburettor, Weber or Stromberg.
Top level summary; Weber carbs have better outright power potential (and were fitted to Sprint models), Strombergs were better for emissions (and some say are much nicer to drive on the road). That will probably end up being a controversial statement, but it’s a short summary of a big subject.
Our car is fitted with Strombergs which are an interesting choice, but more of that when we come to discussing the engine rebuild.
Nestled in the engine bay before I started pulling things apart, the turrets on top of the carbs hold the damper piston assembly with the casting forming part of the suction chamber. These were the reason for the introduction of the bonnet bulge on the S4 model Elans, there needed to be more clearance.
The carbs were removed quite early in the strip down as they need to come off to create enough clearance to lift the body off the chassis with the engine in situ (not just the carbs actually, the studs in to the head needed removed as well, most guides I found online only mentioned the rearmost 2 studs so I’m assuming that’s for Weber equipped cars with their different head casting for the intake manifold.
Here they are as removed, the two carbs use a single throttle cable, which actuates their throttle butterflies via the very elegant spring mechanism you can see between the two units. Closer up view:
Each carb has a short mounting piece that goes between the carb and the intake manifold runner, the runners are cast as part of the head. There is a balancer tube running between the mounts
The carbs themselves were in pretty decent condition, probably in no small part due to the fuel line feeding them having perished whilst parked up, so that had limited the ability for fuel to sit in them whilst turning to varnish!
However, they’re absolutely critical parts for getting these cars to run right and I know my limitations both in terms of equipment and knowledge. These are not DIY!
So I needed to find someone who could rebuild the carbs for me. Thankfully that was east enough, just reached out to the knowledge base of Caledonia Classics who are based near me in Bathgate, they pointed me in the direction of Alan at ScotCarb.
Went and had a conversation with him and discussed the project and he was able to rebuild the carbs for me whilst making a few adjustments to suit the revisions we were making to the engine during its rebuild.
Don’t want to go over the top with pics, but he sent me loads detailing the rebuild.
The carbs and manifold as delivered:
Stripped down, blasted and or cleaned, various parts re-plated.
Fully rebuilt and ready for me to take home: