Zenith Carbs Question

[lord_rootes]

Hi,
I have just bought a Series II Alpine and it has twin Zenith WIA carbs on it. Were these ever stock items? I only ask because in the manual I have it only shows the Rapier as having these while the Alpine had WIP's. The Rapier carbs were mated with an oil bath filter while the Alpine had the birds nest type.
I have been told that the WIA's will not run well with the birds nest type of filters because they are jetted for the oil bath filter therefore will run too lean and stumble. My '62 Rapier had WIA's on it when I bought it but the original oil bath filter was gone having been replaced by the Alpine type filters. I could never get it to stop stumbling. I then replaced them with WIP's and have had no problems since.
When I bought my new Alpine the previous owner told me he had to have the choke out slightly otherwise it would stumble a bit. It wasn't until I got it home I noticed it had WIA's which would seem to lend some credence to the oil bath vs birds nest theory.
Am I on the right track here and if so does anyone have a set of WIP's they want to sell?
Thanks,
Alan
Richmond, B.C. ,Canada
1962 Sunbeam Rapier Series IIIA Convertible
1962 Sunbeam Alpine Series II
1962 Hillman Minx Series IIIC Saloon

 

[alpine_64]

there are heaps of WIP's with manifold and linkages on ebay.. and cheap. Just give it a week and there will be a set.. problem is almost all nedd full rebuilding.. and there lies the problem. Often the throttle bodies have ovaled and the butterflys let fuel past.. you can redrill them and make new butterflys, but its expensive.

 

[SIVAllan]

Chilton's lists the WIAs for SII but WIPs may be more available.

 

[lord_rootes]

Thanks Allan and Michael,
I'm actually watching a pair on Ebay right now.
Maybe I'll see if I can get the WIA's running properly before I get a set of WIP's. This car is suppossed to have the original engine etc so maybe they were original stock although, as I said, my manual plus Graham Robson's Alpine book state only WIP's were used. Of course that doesn't mean Rootes didn't change that somewhere along the line.
Thanks again,
Alan

 

[AlpineII]

Allan,
I rebuilt and re-bushed a pair of WIA's for one of my Series II's last winter and installed them this past spring with the "birds nest" filters. I have to say I am much happier and they perform better than the WIP's I had on previously but then again the WIP's would also have improved with a rebuild. They are on a rebuilt 1592 (30 over), with lightened flywheel, vizard mods, and the KB grind on the cam.

I have never had a "stumbling" problem.

 

[lord_rootes]

Thanks Eddie,
Perhaps the WIA's are original then or at least it sounds like they will work well with the birds nest filters. Perhaps some were jetted differently for Rapiers or maybe I just had a bad pair in my Rapier. I did have them rebuilt but occasionally the accellerator pump piston (I think that's what it's called) would stick in one of them no matter what we did.
I'll try and get these ones to run better. If not I'll get a rebuild kit and try that. I actually like the WIA's because the adjustment screws are facing the driver's side and are easier to get at unlike the WIP's which are on the other side.
Alan