Empi 51 IDA carbs

[Shane Noone]

Hi guys,has anyone on here had much experience with these in terms of performance,reliability,quality of parts and assembly versus rivals such as Spanish 48 IDA's,Berg 51 IDA's or JayCee 51 IDA's just to name a few....................?? Any advice or recommendations much appreciated.I know there will be those that say Italian 48 IDA's rule but I am talking about buying and using new IDA's.

[71CALRIPPER]

They have had some good reports, but same with many new carbs a good clean out wouldnt go a miss.

[Speed-Randy]

They are a direct copy of the weber, all parts are interchangeable, and as a bonus, the float bowl has already been opened up for more volume. Just like any of the other carbs, will have to be jetted to your motor

[DKK Ted]

Not trying to discredit Randy, he's a good guy and stands by his products. BUT, if you do get a set, have them checked out. I know one racer that uses them and likes them, not sure what he does before he installs a set. Another racer who I just picked up my Italian IDA that he completely restored, also picked up a complete set for an engine I'm building. Anyway, he mentioned about the Empi ones, not good. But if you, yourself heard good stuff, still have them checked, for your piece of mind. Let us know what happens! Ya never know.         Ted

[Speed-Randy]

No worries Ted, the Empi haters will bash them enough, even though not one has ever used them. the guys that have to have Italian would never touch them, I'm going to put them on the ghia when it gets back together. Just to try them out and will give an HONEST report, like or not, not that my opinion should sway anyone, but at least i will have actually used them before I say.

[bugnut68]

I believe ARt Thraen said they work well once they've been gone through (even at brand new).

[DKK Ted]

No worries Ted, the Empi haters will bash them enough, even though not one has ever used them. the guys that have to have Italian would never touch them, I'm going to put them on the ghia when it gets back together. Just to try them out and will give an HONEST report, like or not, not that my opinion should sway anyone, but at least i will have actually used them before I say.

Hey Randy, I think the Empi haters, and the people that are using the Empi carbs, or not, are two different issues, Empi haters is for another post for another time. But these Empi carbs are starting to surface, a litttle. The one person I heard that are using them is Roger Crawford, I believe the 51's. And I hear he likes them, but like I said, I do not know if he goes through them or just bolts them on, I kinda dought it. But guy's like him, if he is truely using them, that continue to try them or run them with success will change alot of peoples mind. But only time will tell. But if you run them have them checked, I had bought a set of Spanish ones some years back when I worked for Bergs, found out the floats were off and one of them had a leak. so that float sank, but after fixing the problems and having Berg go through them with all the modes, they worked bitchen,  so you never know. my 2 cents

Ted

[Shane Noone]

Thanks guys for all your suggestions and advice so far.Trying to read between the lines a little,it doesn't sound like there are many racers out there that have tried out these  Empi IDA's to the extent they can say "yes we have tried them or yes we run them on our racecar and they will work well,but you need to do XYZ to them first ?"
I wonder if that statement is true ? If not please chip in here with any experiences you have had good or bad so we can all learn and make a more informed choice when thinking about getting a set of IDA's  From what I can tell seems like they were launched on the market around 2007 / 2008 ? so would have thought at least the engine builders tuners and developers out there would have grabbed a set to play with ...................... ?

[Diederick/DVK]

Didn't Volksworld or Ultra (not meaning to generalize here) do a test on the EMPI IDA and HPMX versus Weber IDA and IDF a few months ago? I thought the verdict was that the EMPI, when gone through, worked excellent.

[Taylor]

When D&A racing. (Current NHRA SS/VX record holders ) got them, there was a substantial increase in horspower.  Only thing they did right away was take the accelerator pumps out and clean the bore and bolt on some Italian stacks.   I was impressed

[Shane Noone]

Taylor that sounds encouraging Do you know whay they took out the accelerator pumps to clean / clear the bores ? Is this a recognised "need to do" ? Be interested to hear if any tuners out there have put together a list of what needs to be done to the Empi IDA's......................I wonder if the same attention / mods need to be carried out on the Spanish IDA's ?? I presume the custom specials like Berg and JayCee are already built to a high quality standard from lessons learned and apart from jetting and correct venturi are good to go right out of the box ?

[DKK Ted]

I believe Tom Costil lo was at Empi for a time to help sort thing out on the carbs, you would think by now all should be good. Defiantly need feed back who has ran them.        Ted