Need help with Weber 38/38 problem..

You can test the idle solenoid several ways.

First, put +12V on the terminal and ground the body, the valve should audibly click.

A non-working valve will make the car idle very poorly at best. If the car will idle, remove the wire from the solenoid and see if it's getting +12V.

Second, the action of the solenoid is to open/close the little transverse holes at the brass end. Put a short piece of tubing over the end only, so that it doesn't block the transverse holes, and blow through it with the valve powered, and unpowered. One way (don't remember which) the air will flow, the other way it won't. That's all there is to testing them - either they work or they don't.
 
Thanks for all the help guys. It focused my attention on the idle jets and found that one had been "plugged", causing the fuel to flow unmetered through that passage. Scott (sreams) lives nearby and has spent a lot of time figuring out these Webers. He gave me a couple idle jets and now the engine runs really good and I'm on the road again. Thanks Scott!!

Its still not perfect but already better than when the Zeniths were on it.

Dan
 
I would think that idle cutoff solenoids would be less useful on a synchronous carb. With the 38s, both throats contribute to the idle. It seems you'd want -four- idle cutoff solenoids for a dual-38 setup. I gave Dan a pair of standard idle jet retainers to replace the solenoids.

-Scott
 
If you have sufficient timing at idle you shouldn't need idle cutoffs. This goes back to smog motor specs where the VA can was hooked to ported vacuum and the throttle blades were opened too far.
 
I find them to be useful on my car. I have dual DGVs and AC, and I need to kick my idle up a bit in order to prevent the idle from dropping too much with the AC on.
 
Interesting. I would have approached it from the opposite way - keeping the idle at a normal rpm then using a solenoid to kick it up when the A/C is engaged.
 
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