What is carburetor percolation..., How can I take care of this annoying problem Options

[nsr-jamie]

Hi, over here in Japan where it is much hotter and humid than the rest of most parts of the world. My car is a 1972 914-4 model that has been tuned up a bit with 103mm p/c, high can and big valve heads (48x38) and twin 40mm drla Dellorto carbs....in the summer time the car seems to run badly and when I stop the car for even a short time to run into the 7-11 and try to restart the 914 it sometimes is quite difficult to get it running again. I talked with my mechanic friend at my local air cooled VW shop here and he told me I was experiencing carburetor percolation which seems to be common on these cars or air cooled engines that are running carbs like mine. I did a bit of research and found nothing here on this site but a little bit on google....not really sure what carburetor percolation is but kind of sounds like the carbs are over heating from the engine heat. Are others experiencing this problem too and if so what are you doing to try to fix it. My shop mentioned special gaskets or spacers to go in between the carbs and manifolds to cure this problem...it seems to occur more here on this side of the planet cause of the humid and hotter weather compared to say back home in the US or Europe. I checked on the CB Performance site and could not find spacers.....any body have any input to add? Thanks and cheers

Jamie in Japan

[nsr-jamie]

Thanks for the links, checked them out and they were helpful. I also finished rebuilding my carbs today and they are almost ready to go.....new gaskets on the way. My spacers fit perfectly. I am going to cut some new stud bolts for them and do some small touches on the following weekend as I only have time to work on the car on Sunday. I can't wait to get my car on the road and drive it finally.