Worth rebuilding a bocar?

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Mags

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I have a stock 1600TP with a vac dizzy and a Bocar copy of a 34 pict 3 all of this is several years old. The engine was a recon and has a few thousand miles on it in total.
The engine sat for about 5 years whilst the bus was rebuilt and although i stripped the components down the engine and carb didnt get stripped down. Everything was checked over, inlet mfold cleaned up tinware replaced, thermostat reinstated.
Now i have put several hundred miles on the bus i'd like to get her running perfectly. The timing has been set at full advance and ive followed the 34 pict 3 setup instructions.
She starts from cold fine and once warmed runs and idles fine. The choke isnt great but after a couple of miles its fine.
The problem is that on small throttle openings she wants to bog down, at speed/higher revs its not noticeable but at low revs its terrible. I generally have to use full throttle and she accelerates fine, due to lack of grunt its not a problem but i would like to get her running right.
as the carb sat for 5 years i guess i should rebuild it but i wondered if it's even worth bothering with as I've read that the Brazilian carbs are not worth it.
I see you can buy rebuilt solex's outright for about £200 so I'm tempted to do this.
Or i guess i could buy a used solex and rebuild it but i don't know how much work it is if i have to start replacing bushes and spindles etc.
Any advice/experience?
 
I forgot to mention the other problem is she doesn't start very enthusiastically once hot. I have to crank the starter more than i would expect and she won't generally start unless i bury the throttle.
 
Hi Mags

I still have my Bocar 34 Pict 3 spare if you want to borrow it for diagnostics or to keep you on the road while you rebuild the other one? Worked perfect beforei removed it.
 
Zcat7 said:
Hi Mags

I still have my Bocar 34 Pict 3 spare if you want to borrow it for diagnostics or to keep you on the road while you rebuild the other one? Worked perfect beforei removed it.

Cheers Neil, That's not a bad idea, I'll drop you an e-mail.

Mags
 
I got my solex 34 refurbed (cog box from memory). One of the best things I've done, after messing around for ages with bushes, bocars, etc. Fit and forget.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Having had some real running problems earlier this year......

SVDA vacuum set at maximum advance - I did same, but when I checked advance at idle - it was not right (too far advanced). Retiming it for about 7.5 degrees sorted it out. Basically my SVDA didn't cover the full range of curve that it's supposed to. I had exactly the same problem with slow engine speed and small throttle openings. It started ok (ish), and would idle ok. Of course at max you're then under advanced which means that you're slightly down on power and possibly running your cylinders a bit hot.

If your distributor covers the full range and idle setting is fine then I wonder if making the mixture a little richer might sort the problem - a flat spot is common with the 009 dissy and is partially solved by enriching the mix.

Having cleaned out the crud from the float bowl on my Bocar and changing to a 123 distributor its better than ever. Knowing that mine works, I'm going to give it a good/proper clean and rebuild at some point
 
rpp123456 said:
I got my solex 34 refurbed (cog box from memory). One of the best things I've done, after messing around for ages with bushes, bocars, etc. Fit and forget.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Cool, thanks.
 
Bluesnailman said:
Having had some real running problems earlier this year......

SVDA vacuum set at maximum advance - I did same, but when I checked advance at idle - it was not right (too far advanced). Retiming it for about 7.5 degrees sorted it out. Basically my SVDA didn't cover the full range of curve that it's supposed to. I had exactly the same problem with slow engine speed and small throttle openings. It started ok (ish), and would idle ok. Of course at max you're then under advanced which means that you're slightly down on power and possibly running your cylinders a bit hot.

If your distributor covers the full range and idle setting is fine then I wonder if making the mixture a little richer might sort the problem - a flat spot is common with the 009 dissy and is partially solved by enriching the mix.

Having cleaned out the crud from the float bowl on my Bocar and changing to a 123 distributor its better than ever. Knowing that mine works, I'm going to give it a good/proper clean and rebuild at some point

I haven't got a clue what my dizzy is, I replaced the 009 on the bus when I bought it ~10 years ago with a brazillian vac one. I know nothing about SVDA's and 123's so that sounds like a bit of research is needed!
Thanks for the pointer.
 
Just to close this off in case it helps anyone else, I bought a used Solex from the classifieds here with a view to rebuild. The spindle had play and after a search I found a company selling brass replacements on Ebay, only about a £5 I think so purchased a pair and a rebuild kit.
The bushes were a good fit and the spindle had to be gently brought down to size to fit with wet & dry, once I had done this I had a good fit. Cleaned up the rest of the carb, rebuilt with new consumables and stuck it on.
I've done about a 1,000 miles in the past few weeks (down to Cornwall & Devon) and its been running fine, not perfect but at least I knew the carb was in good shape. Over the weekend I tried to setup the carb again with better results and she now runs much better than before, the throttle is more sensitive than it was previously and although I need to go for a longer drive (with the camping weight) I'm pretty confident she will run better than before. I didn't have any trouble getting up to 65-70 on the odd overtake (on a flat piece of road!) and cruised fine at 60 until I hit a hill.
So, happy I now have a German carb that doesn't have any leaks and it was very easy to do.
 

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