147 Miles or 232k Shakedown Run with new Zenith 14991 Carby

I choose the occasion of going up to Trafalgar to help Grant with Monty's Endurance Run, see last posting  http://my28chev.blogspot.com/2011/11/montys-endurance-run.html to give the new Zenith carby a good first long run.

147 miles or 232 k's. How did it go on a 30 degree Celsius day?

Pretty good, the only thing I had to do when I got home was turn up the idle speed a bit. I think it moved and the Red Chev stalled a few times.

I had a little bit of apprehension as ideally the 14991 should be used with a fuel pump, but hey, I am an old fashioned Vac Tank man, and would only convert as a last resort. My criteria for changing the carby was a slightly faster cruising speed, a bit more acceleration, and if fuel economy improved, a bonus, but not a necessity.

Previously I would cruise at the sweet spot 45 mph or 72 k's and anything much faster would start to sound a bit harsh and a tad noisy. With the Zenith the sweet spot now is at 50mph or 80 k's. These readings in K's are as per my GPS. At this speed the Vac Tank worked OK with no issues.

For the first 20 miles or so I pushed it a bit at 85 k's or 53 mph. It went very well, but after about 20 miles I believe the carby was using more fuel than the vac tank could supply, and we are probably talking about pressure rather than volume. I started to get a miss, backed off  to 80 k's it went away.
The same thing if I hit a hill after a running for a few miles at over 80 k's. The miss would occur, below 80 k's went away.

For the time being I can live with this, will see how it goes, but as a general statement, I don't think I want to push the Red Chev much harder than 50mph, but I know if I do want to, can do it in burst of 15 to 20 mph at a time. If in the future if  I desire to run continuously at over 50 mph (it ain't going to happen) then would consider a fuel pump.

Grant took the Red Chev for a drive from Trafalgar to Moe and back, maybe about 20 miles, and his comment was "You would not really want to drive much faster than 50mph"

Below is a couple of shots of the best view from the inside of a 28 Chev, looking over the bonnet at the road ahead, with the motometer in your line of vision all the time.

Had a bit of trouble finding a parking spot when I got to Grant's place. People had started putting out their hard rubbish for collection a bit early.

Heh heh heh