All you guys and girls Running Bike carbs on 2.0Litre 16v 9a

I am Really wanting to put Bike carbs on my 2.0litre 16v 9a engine! But i thought it would make a lot of sense to ask for your opinions.
So if you are using bike carbs at the moment.. or have done.. and you have any feedback.

Like how bad IS the fuel consumption? This car is my daily driver you see.. and i am currently squeezing 29mpg out of it.. i presume i will completely be saying goodbye to anything like that?

Anyone had any massive reliability issues.. for instance i have also heard that bike carbs hold there tuning for much longer than say Webers?

I basically want more power from my engine (there must be some in there somewhere!?) It is currently 155bhp. Ideally wanting to reach the 200bhp mark but i would settle for a bit less.. cuz after all we do have power to weight on our side!!

Cheers in advance!

while i have never used bike carbs i cannot see if set up properly why one carb would be less fuel efficient than another and quite possibly this is the problem, while webbers etc have been messed with for years bike carbs are relatively new,Although any item that provides more power is going to consume more fuel if that extra performance is used.

This is very true.. I suppose the primary route of more speed.. is more fuel and more air. So always have to sacrifice some mpg..
But it was more on the day to day i was wondering about?

I mean.. i have heard that the soundtrack of an engine like this sounds awesome on bikecarbs!! i have also heard that a well tweaked and running K-jet system can often run much better than carbs.. but i just feel the sound of something a little more mechanical is a lot sweeter.. and also more fitting to the look of a mk1?

I thought i would get lots of enthusiastic opinions regarding Bike carb set ups on there lovely motors! and how much they are enjoying this running method.. or NOT as the case may be?!

i had bike carbs on my bike..

was a good place for them.. except for cold winter mornings, even on the bike I'd get major carb freezing, especially on the Kawasaki (which carbs seem to be the popular choice) it was a night mare, loss of power, then I'd have to pull overand 'let them thaw' then carry on

Fr a daily driver, stick with reliable proven technologoy, unless a good solution can be over come..

sorry boss, I'm late today, Why, carbs froze.. lol

they can also be a pain in the backside to set up right..

It must get bloody cold in berkshire! We hardly ever have snow down here.. let alone metal componants on a car/bike freezing!? but the point about the tuning i will bare in mind.. i just heard they were simpler to set up than Webber's.. ie that webbers (just as an example) fall out of tune sometimes with only a slight change in temperature?.. where as bike carb's are more reliable.

Just "tuning" this k-jet system seems like a pointless task.. and i dont find it quick enough. So short of fitting a new engine to my daily driver.. which i dont have the money or time for, i am a bit stuck? Was just thinking/hoping bike carbs may bring some extra excitment to the drivability of the car.. the noise and speed pick up etc

Carb freezing can happen at 20 deg C ambient temperature!

The theoretical advantage of bike carbs is that the intake path length is less, but because they're separate, the inlet manifold is unable to use Helmholtz resonance to match the pulsing air flow of each cylinder together and get a benefit from that - the K-Jet manifold can. So there's nothing in it from an airflow point of view.

In terms of AFM, bike carbs' main advantage is that they're simpler. But this means you can only really set one ideal AFM and have it over a fairly narrow range, eg 3000-7000rpm at full throttle. So part throttle AFM lies where it is and this is where fuel economy suffers.

K-Jet on a 16V (or the adaptions applied to an 8V) has a few little advantages. The main one is that the WUR has 2 useful features. One of these is the vacuum connection so it can sense and adapt to load (throttle position, approx) too. This means it can run lean at part throttle and rich at full throttle. The second advantage is that control pressure (once a tweak is done) is completely adjustable, meaning that AFR can be precisely tweaked at high-end operation, and the mixture screw on the fuel metering unit can be used to also precisely set idle condition. So it idles smoothly, and delivers enough fuel at the top end too. The only disadvantage is the AFR vs RPM is set by the shape of the cone, its not adjustable like an electronic FI car. But the 1600 and 16V metering heads are known to have a good profile and produce good results. The air flap itself isn't actually a serious restriction and can flow air up to 190-200bhp with no issues.

Also there's 10x more info on tweaking the K-Jet injection system than tweaking bike carbs.

just finished my bike carb setup on a kr.
I've done a little research into the carbs themselves and the economy doesnt seem to bad, they reckon cos they're a slide setup they'l only deliver the fuel required as per the airflow.
Its not been on the rolling road yet but it goes quite well already.
and the sound is wonderful!!
It's only just finished it so I cant tell you the long term issues.

I fully agree with the look and sound being in keeping with the cars age..the main reason for my doing it. may switch to webers one day if these really are a pain in the harris!!

little link, see what you think.

mk1 golf on zx9r carbs - YouTube