I'm getting tired of the chronic problems and heartburn this Hitachi is giving me. Rebuilt a little over a year ago. Ran fine up until about 2 weeks ago. Carb shop that did the work was under 6' of water during hurricane Katrina, so I can't get it checked by anyone in my area... I bought a carb kit, but it didn't help. Thought it was a plugged port on the accelerator pump, but that wasn't it either.

 

I am seriously contemplating dishing out the money for a 32/36 kit with the adapter. Found a kit for $384 (new everything) plus shipping from Performance Parts Warehouse. . Note: This engine is in a boat.. No emmission equipment. No cat. converter. Free flowing exhaust..

 

Any comments on the Weber will be greatly appreciated. Is it fairly easy to tune after it's installed? How much conversion work needed for throttle cable? Is it more reliable than the Hitachi? Performance improvements? Better throttle response? Any other known gremlins?

 

Another note: I am NOT interested in troubleshooting the old Hitachi. Something either reuilt or new is going on it..

 

Thanks in advance..

I'm just going on what ive been told before about webers considering i don't have one (been thinking about it though). Ive heard that they're a biotch to tune but once you have it right its a great carb. That price is good too considering that last price i saw for one of those kits was 400+ dollars. The other option that im thinking about and maybe you could too is to convert it to SPFI. This would be the cheaper alternative and more reliable. Just a thought. Good luck in whatever you decide.

I installed a 32/36 DGEV (electric choke) on my EA82 about four years ago. The installation isn't too difficult. The adapter plate I was told was for my engine didn't block off the water passage to the carb, so I had to fabricate that. It wasn't too hard to modify the bellcrank of the Hitachi carb to work with the Weber. Since you're working with a boat, the carb-top air filter that comes with it will work fine for you. Tuning is not really difficult. Instructions come with the carb or are available on a number of websites. The biggest difficulty is figuring out which jets to run, but since the carbs are set up at close to sea level, and since you don't have to pass an emissions test, the stock jets will probably work just fine for you.

 

As for reliability, I've found it to be far more reliable than the stock unit. Good throttle response, reasonable power (we are talking about an EA82, after all) and economy comparable to the original carb. Shop around for a price; I found there was a really wide range of prices when I bought mine.

The guy at Performance Parts Warehouse assured me that it is a straightforward bolt up with the adapter.

 

By the way, I ordered it a little while ago. Running me $430 with overnight shipping, so I'll be getting it tomorrow..

 

Thanks to you guys who replied, but I would still like to hear from more who have the 32/36 and let me know anything that would turn this into a nightmare.

 

As far as installing SPFI, that would be a hellish situation in a hunting boat that seems to have a little problem sinking every now and then. I think that keeping it simple and not spending money on an ECU every year is in my best interest...

 

Keep the comments coming, and I'll report my findings on the kit after I get it.