Question about carb selection.  I'll start off by explaining that when I bought my buggy, the guy I bought it from said that he had the engine rebuilt and was bored and should be, let's say more than 1800 cc (I don't remember what he told me at the time, and he said he didn't have any paperwork on the rebuild).  By the serial number this engine started out as a single port 1600cc, and now is a dual port with a Zenith carb.  I know the only way to know for sure would be to pull one of the heads and take some measurements which I don't want to do unless it's necessary.  Compared to the other 1600cc buggies we have, mine has noticeably more power, so I'm sure he wasn't lying.

Anyways, the Zenith carb that is on there now gives us nothing but problems.  It's hard to keep the jets clean and it needs to be adjusted all the time.  Doing some research in the past, it seams like the Zenith may have been used for the bigger cc engines, not sure if that is true or not, but it's hard to find any good info on them, let alone parts because it looks like these carbs were mostly used for farm equipment back in the day.

I would like to replace the Zenith with something more reliable, just not sure what with.  Looking for suggestions.

Kadrons

Thanks Jeffrey, any specific details on type?  I don't know much about the subject.

If your budget is tight you can go used (these need a linkage which is commonly available):
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=2021634

For new there is no one better than Kaddie Shack:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1029333

You can also search ebay under VW dual solex for some options.

They are great carbs. TONS of "how to's" as to how to set them up properly:

http://www.lowbugget.com/help_section.html

How much of a pain is it to go from a single carb to dual?  I'm assuming the price would be higher to buy two than one, but with that being said, is there a single carb that would suit my needs, or is this just a preference thing?

Basically 4 nuts to get your old carb off and 4 nuts to get your new carbs on.

Lets get to the meat and potatoes of this issue.....budget?

Budget isn't the biggest factor, I can plan for that.  For me it's more about ease of install and future use.  This buggy stays in Baja so when I go down there I don't want to have to fool with it after installation.  Maybe I am wrong but I assume two carbs equals twice the problems, unless different carbs would be more reliable on this engine.  Maybe I should just plan on pulling a head next time I go down to see exactly what I have.

Sure...you can go single.

http://www.cbperformance.com/SearchResults.asp?Search=singlelowprofilekit

A 40 or 44 would be plenty for your engine.

But there really isn't anything better than a carb for each head.

If you are in sand and dust, I would go fuel injection so you don't have to worry about needles getting clogged up... Paul...

Thanks Paul, what is involved in that project?

https://www.cbperformance.com/ - CB Performance has very nice injection kits, but if you want to do it yourself, for my wife's 1915 (replaced by a Subaru since it threw a valve - the 1915 is still sitting in my garage minus the FI) I put the CB dual port manifold on, welded up a Y tube with an o2 bung, added a fuel injection pump and used a megasquirt to control the injectors.  If I were to do it again, I'd put a single injector in the Y tube myself to save the money on the dual port manifold.

Paul...