05/01/2023 23:46 Porsche 911 Carburetor Adjustment, Balance and Tuning | 911 (1965-73) | Pelican Parts DIY Maintenance

IY Maintenance Article

If your carbs are unbalanced, then different cylinders in your engine will receive different
amounts of fuel and air, and the all important air/fuel mixture ratio will be off. This will
result in less horsepower, a poor idle, and higher emissions. It's a wise idea to check
the balance of the carburetors each time that you perform a major tune-up on your
engine. The most popular system for use on the 911 are the Weber triple-throat
carburetors. The remainder of this project will discuss the procedure used for balancing
a 911 engine equipped with Weber carburetors.
If your carburetors are poorly balanced, then you will have a multitude of problems with
your engine. The engine will have a tendency to spit and backfire through the exhaust.
Unbalanced carbs may also give the engine an uneven idle, or make the car very
difficult to keep at idle without stalling. It's important to make sure that your engine is in
good overall health (good compression), and that your idle jets are clean as well. Dirt in
the idle jets, poorly adjusted valves or a burnt exhaust valve can also result in the same
symptoms that are associated with unbalanced carburetors.
The first step in adjusting your carburetors is to make sure that the rest of your car is
tuned and performing properly. Make sure that your valves are properly adjusted
(Pelican Technical Article: Valve Adjustment), and the timing and dwell are set properly
(Pelican Technical Article: "Setting the Timing, Dwell, and Idle Speed"). Make sure that
your spark plug wires are in good condition, your plugs are new, the carburetor floats
are properly adjusted (Pelican Technical Article: Carburetor Rebuild), and the idle jets
are clean. Let the car warm up to its normal operating temperature before starting to
adjust the carburetors. Once the car is warm, begin by adjusting the idle to about 1000
to 1100 RPM. You want to set the idle to be a little bit higher so that the car will not die
out when you are making adjustments. Adjust the engine to this value by carefully
turning the idle adjustment screws located on the ends of the carburetors.
Now, remove the air cleaner from the top of the carburetors. The stock air cleaner is
simply clipped onto the top of the engine, and can easily be removed. If you have an
aftermarket filter assembly, you can remove these by simply unbolting the air cleaner
housing on each carburetor. Now, disconnect one of the two small drop links on the
throttle linkages so that there is no connection between either of the two carburetors.
Once you are sure that the timing is set correctly, and the idle speed is set to your
working range of 1000-1100 RPM, it's time to synchronize each of the carburetor
throats. A special synchronization tool (sometimes called a Unisyn or synchrometer) is
used to measure the air flow being sucked into the manifold by each carburetor throat.
The goal of the synchronization task is to make sure that the amount of air flow into
each throat is the same for all six cylinders.
Start with cylinder number one, located on the rear left side of the engine. Place the
synchronizer over the top of the carburetor stack and adjust the tall glass stack to a
vertical position. Turn the adjusting disc on the synchronizer until the small indicator

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bubble inside the glass rises about half-way up the height of the synchronizer. This
basically calibrates the synchronizer tool for cylinder one.
Now, place the Unisyn on one of the throats of the right bank of cylinders. Adjust the idle
adjustment screw located at the end of the carburetor until the ball in the Unisyn is at
about the same height as it was on cylinder one. The idle speed should either rise or
drop off a bit from the level that you had it set at.
Starting with cylinder number one, adjust the mixture adjustment screw at the base of
the carburetor. On each Weber carburetor, there are three mixture adjustment screws
that have a spring wrapped around the inside to prevent them from turning. Turn this
screw in until the idle begins to drop. Then back off the screw about an 1/8th of a turn or
until the idle comes back to its previous level. The goal is to turn in all the mixture
adjustment screws right to the point where they begin to affect the idle. Repeat this
procedure for each cylinder on each side of the car. If your mixture adjustment screws
are turned in too far, then you will be starving your engine of air. This will result in a
popping-type backfire out of the exhaust. When all the mixture adjustment screws have
been set, then readjust the idle adjustment screws located on each end of the
carburetor until the idle is adjusted back to 1000-1100 RPM. Use the Unisyn to make
sure that both banks of carburetors are drawing the same amount of air while the car is
at 1000-1100 RPM.
Next, take the Unisyn and measure the level of air flow that each cylinder is drawing
through the carburetor. Make a note of the level of the highest cylinder: you will adjust
all the other carburetors to level of this cylinder. There are three air correction screws
that are located at the base of the carburetors and have a small nut that locks them
down to prevent them from rotating. Adjust the air correction screws so that the level of
each cylinder as shown by the Unisyn is equal to the reading on the highest-level
cylinder. Adjusting the carburetors in this fashion will give the car a strong idle and make
it run very even. If for some reason, you cannot adjust all the cylinders to the reading on
the highest cylinder, then adjust that one down slightly to the point where all the
cylinders can be synchronized together. After adjusting all the air correction screws,
reset the idle back to the 1000-1100 RPM range, using the Unisyn to verify that both
sides are evenly balanced.
Once all the cylinders are set and synchronized, it's time to adjust your linkage. The
accelerator linkage must open each carburetor by the same amount at the same time.
In other words, both the left and right carburetor linkage must be synchronized with
each other as the throttle is depressed.
First, carefully inspect your throttle linkage. All of the links and ball joints should be tight
and have almost no slop or backlash. If there is significant wear on these joints, then
they should be replaced, as you will find it very difficult to adjust the linkage and balance
the carburetors.

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To adjust the linkage, you will need to change the length of the linkage arms by rotating
the ball joints at the ends of the arms. The linkage has two drop links, whose length
controls when the throttle bodies are opened and closed. If the one carburetor opens
earlier than the other carburetor, then you need to decrease the length of the throttle
linkage drop link until they both open at the same time. The drop links are threaded with
both a left and right-handed thread (similar to the tie rods), so you can get a very fine
adjustment simply by rotating the drop link in either direction. Tighten up the retaining
nuts on each end of the drop link when you have finished adjusting the linkage.
In addition to checking both the idle mixture and the linkage, you should also check the
adjustment of the accelerator pumps. These pumps are designed to inject extra fuel into
the carburetor throats under acceleration. There are two of them, and they are located
in the center of each carburetor. They directly affect the performance of the 911 up to
about 30 mph. This pump jet squirts out a stream of fuel when the throttle is opened
from being completely closed. It may be easier to perform this test if you remove the
velocity stacks on top of the carburetors.
To check the adjustment of the accelerator pumps, place a small vial under the pump jet
located inside the carburetor throat. You will have to fashion a small wire to hold the
vial, as space is pretty tight inside the carburetor throat. Pump the throttle completely
from closed to open twice, and measure the amount of fuel in the vial. For cold weather,
the factory recommends 0.55-0.65 cc of fuel. For warmer weather, it's recommended to
have 0.40-0.50 cc of fuel. Adjust the length of the small linkage attached to the
accelerator pump on the carb to increase or decrease this amount.
Early Weber carburetors don't have adjustable accelerator pumps. A poorly adjusted
accelerator pump will tend to make the car hesitate under acceleration. This symptom is
also experienced when the diaphragm on the carburetor is cracked or leaking. It's very
often the case on 911s that have been sitting for many years for the rubber diaphragm
to break. Replacement of the diaphragm during a routine carburetor rebuild will solve
this problem (see Pelican Technical Article: Carburetor Rebuild).
When finished, go drive the car and check the performance of the engine. Often it is the
case where several attempts will be required to properly tune and balance the carbs.
When you have completely the entire procedure, it's a wise idea to go back and check
all the measurements one more time. If you find that you are having difficulty balancing
or tuning the carburetors, it may be that they need to be rebuilt. Vacuum leaks around
seals and worn throttle bodies will make the carburetors almost impossible to properly
tune. If a carburetor throat doesn't seem to respond to any changes in the idle mixture
screw, then this is a clear indication that the idle jets may be clogged, or your carburetor
may need rebuilding. See Project 28 for more details on rebuilding the Weber brand of
carburetors.
Another problem common to carburetors is the clogging of the idle jets. These clogged
jets will cause the engine to run rough. The solution is to simply pull them out of the top
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of the carburetors and clean them out with a little bit of carburetor cleaner and
compressed air. You should make sure that your jets are clean before attempting to
tune and balance the carburetors. Refer to Project 28 for more details. Approximately
60% of the time when you are driving, the idle jets will be what is primarily supplying
fuel to the car. Dirt in the idle jets will make the car run sluggish, as if you have lost
power in a cylinder.
Another common problem with Weber carburetors is that they sometimes spit out the
top of the velocity stacks. This is usually caused by a design defect in the early
specifications of carburetors used on early 911s. The spitting is caused by the idle jets
being too small. The cure for this problem is to install larger idle jets. In the old days,
you could check the jetting of your carburetors by taking a close look at the spark plugs.
Unfortunately, you can't read spark plugs as well with today's unleaded gas
formulations. In the older days, a black sooty plug meant that your car was running rich.
A nice brown plug meant that the mixture was set properly. With today's unleaded fuel
combined with lots of additives, the plugs will often look black and sooty, even if the
engine is running well.
Clean fuel is especially vital to good working carburetors. It's a smart idea to add an
extra fuel filter right before each carburetor just to remove an excess dirt that may clog
the idle jets. Unlike high-pressure fuel injection systems, carburetors don't get cleaned
by the pressurized fuel flowing in and out of the small passages. It's also very important
to make sure that the air filter is clean when you reinstall it.
It's important to note that Weber carburetors have no choke or starting circuits. You
must use your foot on the accelerator pedal to pump the accelerator pumps in the
carburetors when first warming up the engine. When starting the car warm, take the
pedal and floor it, then turn the key. Don't pump the accelerator pedal when the car is
warm, as you will probably flood the engine. Weber carburetors have a tendency to boil
over the fuel when the car is warm, and dump it into the combustion chamber, flooding
the engine. Holding down the pedal is the correct procedure because chances are that
there is already a lot of fuel in the combustion chamber. When the car kicks over, simply
release your foot from the pedal and bring the car down to idle.
If after going through the entire adjustment procedure, the engine still doesn't perform
properly, you may have some problems that are caused by other factors. If your engine
is not in good health and has a compression leak, then you may get backfiring through
the carburetors. If the small passages within the carburetors are clogged, then they
might need to be rebuilt. If turning either the idle mixture screws or the air correction
screws doesn't affect the idle of the engine, then you may have to rebuild the
carburetors.
There are many different opinions on how to best tune carburetors, and the procedure
described here is simply one of many. Just about every book I've read has a slightly
different procedure for tuning the carburetors. In the end, practice and increased
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familiarity with how the tuning of the entire system affects engine performance will
enable you to eventually tune the carbs 'by feel.'

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