Weber conversion F-head

I made my spacer out of 1/2" alum. No shop needed, just layout and drilling/tapping skills. My design also allows quick removal of carb and and adapter with no interference.

Also, 1/4" thick carb gaskets for a Holley-Weber 5200 can be used as spacing, cheap and available.

 

Homebrews setup is superior to mine in that the mounting studs have been relocated. This allows for them to be easily reached. Whereas mine still requires removal of the valve cover in order to remove the spacer and adapter from the head (rarely needed but still a pita).

Homebrew... did you change the stud locations yourself? If so was it difficult/technically?

 

I just removed the carb studs from the head (lucky they weren't froze like my exhaust man. stud).

Then I drilled a clearance hole for a 3/8" bolt in 2 corners of the sq. spacer.
I used 3/8"-16 Allen cap screws to attach the spacer to the head. So, I had to drill a countersink hole to accomodate the Allen head. I just used a regular drill (bit) and drilled to within 1/8" of "all the way". I ground the Allen heads down so their heights were flush with the top of the spacer when bolted down. This wound up leaving only about 1/8" of depth for the Allen wrench ... not much, but fine for this app. IMO.

In the other 2 corners of the spacer(fore and aft) , I drilled a tap hole for a 3/8"-16 thread.

I don't consider the spacer too hard to make, as long as a drill press is used for drilling and starting the tap.
I used alum. instead of steel which was easier to work for me.

 

Just got in from the garage - Not much progress... I had to remove the oil dipstick and tube assembly to install the carb -
How does yours fit? I can't see any way to re-install it unless I bend the tube toward the passenger side fender -and
somehow brace it there.

I just looked at the adapter pictures that you guys posted - my oil dipstick and tube are a lot longer than yours - even with a spacer, the top of my oil fill tube is dead even with the topof the carb and hits the fuel inlet pipe.

 

That's weird! And I thought I had all the probs nobody'e ever heard of.
For ref:
My dip stick tube is 14.5" from block boss to top of cap. It's round where it enters the block but immediately above that, it's crimped flat for 4", then round again up to the top.
Bending sounds good, if possible, and would help the prob we all have of getting the dipstick out. Only other thing I can think of is to cut a section out of the tube and re-mark the stick

 

I am getting kind of discouraged with the whole thing at this point - I think I'll take a break for a couple of weeks to re-think and refresh..... looks like it's not gonna be running this summer.......

 

Is the oil tube the only prob?

 

Well, the whole deal began when I let the "Magic Smoke" out of the wiring under the dash - melted the harness and fuse panel. Then the overdrive I got was thrashed, so I sent it to Herm for a rebuild. Tried to swap to the A.A. chain clutch linkage - won't work (and bent the rod from the pedal), somewhere in the process, I lost the pivot ball and bracket for the torque tube, so I can't even swap back to the original set-up.
Then I found out the pinion bearing in the rear differentail is shot, so I have to swap that out too......
Just seems to be more problems every time I touch this thing........
But, if it was easy, it wouldn't be worth it, right?

 

Just out of curiosity, how much clearance do you have between the air filter housing and the hood with the 3/4" spacer? It looks like I am going to need at least a 1" spacer to squeak past the oil filler tube after it is bent.....

 

I don't mean to steal Thunderpig's reply but, it was handy for me ... I have 1-1.25" clearance with my 1/2" spacer. ... they do make a 1.5" high air cleaner instead of the 2.5" ... I believe it's marginal for airflow for a 32/36 at full rpm.

 

When you get that Weeber all hooked up, assuming you have a good free flowing exhaust, please be careful with the skinny pedal ... it's nothing like you know in that Jeep :twisted:

 

I used a 3/4" spacer for the carb, cut the oil tube and stick by 1" and then drilled and tapped the other side of the "Y" on the carb for the fuel intake (pointing towards the valve cover), tapped and plugged the fuel inlet that Weber gives you. My dip stick cap bottom is just above my standard military oil filter housing. It took some work but I think it works out pretty well.

 

I have relocated my oil filter housing to the firewall on the drivers side, so that will not be an issue.
I am getting the bottom flange of the carb adapter cut off and a 1" tall section heli-arced in place to make the whole assembly taller (just like it is supposed to be...)
I believe that will give me just enough room to squeak by the oil filler tube without cutting it - maybe.....hopefully....?

 

Yeah, wasn't that nice of Weber to make that "adapter" work so well. I love how they market it and if you call they don't have a clue about a spacer being needed. They just say they sell these carbs all the time for the f-head and don't get any complaints. How many people give up I wonder?

 

Hmmm, that's the same answer I got from Weber North America, Pierce Manifolds, and Clifford Performance -
I really hope the performance gains make it worth all the hassle.

Do you have any pictures of your set-up?

 

I hope so too. I've been doing a complete rebuild of my jeep. The body has been suspended from the rafters for over a year now. I rebuilt the motor (stock bore), oversized the valves, milled the head, clifford hearder, pertronix ignition and the weber carb. Just got it in a few months ago and have only run it by dropping the fuel line into a cup of gas. So I'm not real sure about it yet. I also don't have any pipe installed yet, just straight headers. I'll attach a pic of the carb and hopefully it shows up. You might have to click to enlarge it.

 

I did the carburetor upgrade which I could tell a HUGE difference right away! I am thinking about the headers now. $339.00 at Clifford. They say 18-22% improvement with just the headers on a stock engine. If so then I would say it is worth the hassle.

Regarding the carburetor. I think the best way to do it is to relocate the carb mounting studs like homebrew did. Shorten the oil dipstick and tube.
I wish I had done this now because in order to get the valve cover off, I still have to remove the carburetor every time and even then its difficult to remove with my adapter and spacer still attached.
Sometime in the future I will take it to a shop to see if they can put new studs in at 90 degrees from current locations.

 

I do agree with with the solution of moving the studs. I may be confused though. I was under the impression that he just moved them in the spacer which sounds like an excellent idea. It sounded like he used the original intake bolts locations to hold the spacer down and just used other holes in the carb adapter (like at the 9 and 3 o'clock position instead of 6 and 12) to bolt the carb adapter to the spacer. But I currently don't have a problem getting my valve cover off or getting my dipstick out after making the mods I did. Don't forget that I moved the fuel intake on the carb.
Here is a pic of my Clifford Header.

 

My spare cylinder head is at the machine shop right now, getting milled 60 thou, I also have a spare original camshaft that I am sending down to Clifford to re-grind - I'll probably swap that stuff in next winter -
I am still undecided on the header though - if you look at the original exhaust manifold, it looks like it actually flows pretty well - kinda like the old chevy "ram horn" manifolds.......
Is your header coated or just painted steel?

 

53 WILLYS - how much clearance do you have between the old fuel inlet and the dipstick?