Single carburetor setup, Setup single carburetor/distributor for a 1.8 Options

[cmxiv 74]

Hi, I need to know if anyone around has a functional, decent (not performance, not perfect) setup that involves a center mounted carburetor on a 1.8 L engine. While I'm new to the subject I'm well aware about the inefficiency of the center mounted single carburetor setup on 914. Yes, it sucks ! But I have to deal with the facts and the reality. This are the facts: I bought my 74 1.8 already converted on single carburetor, (looks like a Weber, made in Spain, no other markings visible without removal) paired with a centrifugal advance distributor (not sure what model, no markings visible without removal) not know when was converted, or if the engine is stock or not. While has a decent acceleration response, decent power it runs very bad, inconsistent warm startup, high idle, rich, overall I can't find a "sweet spot". So far I changed the points, condenser, wires, spark plus, spark wires, distributor cap and rotor. The car is in what I call "active" repair/restoration which means that I have to keep it running and do work on it whenever I have the time and a place to work on it. So far is in my friends shop but while I will continue to have shop access I can not keep it there anymore, so it has to be parked on the street (it is registered and insured). For now I have to keep the car running with a single carburetor, so any other option is out.
Now... not sure if the centrifugal distributor is a good idea for this already bad setup, but I need opinion and advice from people who know how to do a proper setup for a single carb. I will add more info and photos over the next days Thank You !

PS. It looks like I have a 1.7 L not 1.8.The engine serial nr starts with EA, assigned to a 1973 1.7 L.

[bbrock]

Long, long ago, I tried a single carb on both a 1.7L 914 and a VW bus. I never could get it to run properly. The problem was those intake runners that others have mention. So no dizzy swap was going to help. I finally swapped them for a pair of 34 ICTs which could be bought for very cheap back then. They still sucked for performance, but at least the cars were drivable.

I should probably amend my previous post to say that the problems I had with my single carbs were associated with cold weather. Whenever the temps would dip below about 40F, the cars would just die. The runners would literally build up a cake of frost on them. When the weather was warm, they ran okay except for the dead spot caused by the 009 dizzy. I just noticed the OP is in LA so my experience with single carbs in a colder climate might not be so relevant.

[cmxiv 74]

Long, long ago, I tried a single carb on both a 1.7L 914 and a VW bus. I never could get it to run properly. The problem was those intake runners that others have mention. So no dizzy swap was going to help. I finally swapped them for a pair of 34 ICTs which could be bought for very cheap back then. They still sucked for performance, but at least the cars were drivable.

I should probably amend my previous post to say that the problems I had with my single carbs were associated with cold weather. Whenever the temps would dip below about 40F, the cars would just die. The runners would literally build up a cake of frost on them. When the weather was warm, they ran okay except for the dead spot caused by the 009 dizzy. I just noticed the OP is in LA so my experience with single carbs in a colder climate might not be so relevant.

Decent original 34 ICT are hard to get, or to expensive to buy professionally rebuilt, it will cost almost as much as a dual full kit
Correct, I have to be in the upper desert, in February to get around that kind of low temp, not a major issue for LA. I know about the ice build up from my 66 Beetle ages ago, It did iced in the summer, the heater exhaust runner was almost clogged