Hey rotorheads-
this just arrived from our friends at PBandJ Racing - my newly modified Sterling Carb and 79 SA ported manifold. It took a few months but I told Carl out front I was in no hurry - and you can't rush a good thing! He was very comminicative thru the whole process with lots of emails letting me know how things progressed. He will earn his $$ when I start harassing him in the spring with dumb questions when I am installing it!!
Note I include a "before" close-up image of the old manifold BEFORE the porting, for comparison. Also note the schwanky chrome powdercoating on the manifold! Hoochie-MAMA! as Kramer would say...
I asked him to keep the choke assembly operational, which does make getting inside the carb tougher for those of you who like to tinker with jetting. I don't and I live in Alaska, so Choke is Good. He also mechanically linked up the secondaries. Beyond that, I have no answers so please talk to RXCarl for the specifics. I'll certainly update everyone with pics and pains of the install next Spring-
Stu Aull
80GS
Alaska

 

suitable for framing.

beautiful.

 

Thanks for the pics Stu.That is a beautiful job Carl did for you.I wonder why you call this a sterling carb though?It looks like a normal Nikki to me.Am I missing something?Are the 79-80 stock carbs Sterlings?If so then I have one on my 79 which I just picked up a month ago.I was thinking of mounting my Yaw Nikki from my 83 on my 79 in the near future,but maybe it won't work on the 79 intake,even though the footprint looks to be the same.Any help on this would be appreciated.What are you running for a fuel pump,and regulator with that setup?Does Carl reccomend a certain fuel pump and pressure for the mods to the carb?Thanks in advance.

Chris
79 Spark yellow GS
83 Limited edition
74 RE/PU

P.S. Great post on winterizing your car.I think the previous owner of my early production 79 did most of the same stuff you do to his car,and I thik that has kept it in such nice shape.

 

Dang, Stu, that is nice. I've been considering doing the same for as long as I've been reading about Sterling's carbs on this forum. My concern is the emissions would have to stay intact on mine and I'm not sure if I'd get a gain, other than the obvious visual. Clearly, that shows quality and pride in service and workmanship on PB&J's part.
I have a spare intake, too, that I'd send to have the same thing done as yours. I just may do so. Keep us up-to-date upon your installation, please. I am anxious to know how the gains are.
(btw, I've finally mounted my RX8 passenger seat using some 80/20 T-slot hardware. I have some photos, too. It was quite a trick. I'll upload to my cardomain site this week during downtime.)

 

Sterling and Carl do the work and did the development to rebuild and remake the Carbs. They are called a Sterling because that is the one of the guys name that does the work. It is still a Nikki just Modded by Sterling or Carl. Sterling at one time posted a lot in this forum but not so much any more, Carl is a Mod in here.

 

^Thanks for the info.Now I know,and knowing is half the battle.

 

HEHE. I have been watching GI Joe on DVD the last few weeks.

 

How much will that run you?

 

PB&J It's all on there.

I hope be sending my nikki in to Carl and Sterling as soon as I can too. Looks great.

 

iv been tryin to get one for a while.. but guess i missed another batch through a dead train of emails.. oh well, local guy said hes got an $800 carb on his old 81 that he stopped driving a few years ago that he'd sell me cheap, hopefully that works out

 

oh... my... GOD!!!!

that is friggin beautiful!!! Was it really t that clean when you sent it? I'm planning on getting one in the future.

btw, what fuel pump are you planning on using?

 

OK - I should explain, so Carl doesn't get angst about the look of his carb restorations - this is a BRAND NEW carb which I bought on ebay and had the first owner mail to Carl directly for the "Sterling" touch. It is a 1981 RX7 Nikki, near as I can tell. Carl does NOT modify 79-80 SA carbs, but he assured me that the modded 81+ Nikkis will work fine on an SA RX7. Time will tell It's the MANIFOLD that is SA-sourced. My understanding is Carl has found the porting methods he uses work best on these simpler manifolds. I am not sure he even modifies any other RX7 manifold BUT the SA-type - so start hunting for those now if you want this mod!! Carl does a lot of clean-up and detailing of your donor carbs when he does the mods, including (I believe) bead-blasting of dissassembled components, etc. Obviously you should talk to him about the specifics and the costs involved, since he offers several levels of mods, as well as just what goes into the detailing of the carb.
As far as fuel pump and regulator, etc. - that is a bridge I have yet to cross, but Carl has said he's happy to talk me thru it when the time comes. He or Sterling are The Guys to ask about that stuff. As I said, I will post pics and a blow-by-blow after my install next spring. Its -20 outside right now, so the carb will sit in my den as a conversation piece for the winter
...far to pretty to put away in a box
Stu Aull
80GS
Alaska

 

Wow.. it's amazing how stock yours looks.

For comparison, here's what *MY* Sterling Carb looks like.

Here you can clearly see that the carb has been modded.

No Altitude Compensator
No Dashpot
No Choke Assembly
Modified Throttle Return Spring Location
Mechanical Secondaries (No Vacuum Secondary Box)

and a whole slew of "secret" internal modifications that I can't even begin to comprehend.

Your carb looks like it just came from the factory... and while that's beautiful in and of itself, I get the feeling that carl wasn't willing to hack it up that badly

And I can't wait until I get mine powdercoated..

Jon

 

VP 42-
Wow! That is a much (!!) simpler looking rig! I am stunned at the amount of hardware and doo-dads hanging off my carb. And it weighs a TON! I would expect MOST Sterlings would be more like yours, since a lot of Carl's customers want a basic, high-perfomance mod with the ability to tweak it themselves (??). I was pretty specific with Carl that I am NOT a tweak-geek - I just wanted the most reliable performance gain I could get while maintaining maximum driveablity under all conditions. Keeping the choke was paramount. I must assume that Carl thought it best to leave on, well, most _everything_, since I can see no sign of any component being removed. I really needed the Sterling to basically just bolt on and go, with minimal dicking around to make it work properly. This is what I got...
(right Carl?
Stu Aull
80GS
Alaska

 

Amazingly enough, living in Ottawa and having no choke wasn't a big deal. Carl was the one who originally convinced me to ditch it! Even around 0 degrees (Celcius.. freezing point of water) my fast idle linkage still revs the car to 2k when I pull the choke **** out. No problems warming it up, and I don't notice a starting difference at all. I don't drive it in winter, and I'd assume that at -40 degrees it might act up without a proper choke, but this is more than enough. The fast idle rod does it's job.

As for the rest of the "missing" stuff, I don't miss it at all. No drivability difference whatsoever. My idle is anywhere between 900 and 1,100rpm depending on engine and ambient temperature, but very solid. Mechanical Secondaries are a joy to drive and I find that I prefer the increased response of coming off the throttle without a dashpot. Since I don't change altitudes often, the altitude compensator is a useless thing that I don't notice being gone.

The biggest advantage of the Rx7Carl carb and a removed rat's nest is the simplicity of troubleshooting. I have one vacuum tube for my vacuum advance (on the distributor), two larger hoses for my PCV system and that's it. The carb itself comes off the car with no arguement in less than 10 minutes. The Idle Speed screw is actually reachable with the car running, allowing for idle tweaking on a whim.

I couldn't be happier. You just have to remember to pump your gas twice when it's cold before starting, and crack the throttle slightly when it's warm while starting. Not exactly rocket science for the simplicity of it. (no "hot start assist" and the bigger Accelerator Pump throw gives the gas you need to give it that "jump" to start without a choke plate).

Jon

 

Yeah, mine looks just like yours Vipernicus42. You've gotta love a naked Nikki! Even in Michigan weather, covered under 4" of fresh snow @ 12 degrees she fires right up without a problem. Performance improvements are beyond comparison, and I don't even have the upgraded fuel pump and regulator yet, so it can only get better...

 

im almost kind of jealous. even with a holley im sure that will work 100x better, stay fully functional and look so damn nice!

 

And one of the best parts: Ultimate Tweakability.

The jets have had their holes redrilled and rethreaded to accept Holley Air Bleeds as jets. Why? Because Holley Air Bleeds are insanely common, cheap and available compared to stock nikki jets.

Jon

 

every nikki in the world should be completely stripped of everything. (unless you have to pass emissions) drivability, cranking, and all that jazz is completely un harmed. all my nikki's get the "treatment"


especially my boosted ones


RX7 carl does amazing work. his carbs are cleaner than anything and he's awesome for customer service!

 

Thanks for the compliments Stu. You've been more than patient with us, as has others, thank you. I apologize to you and everyone whos been waiting for us to come through. I wont make excuses, we've been extremely slow. We want to get it right, and at a reasonable cost. That means finding ways to cut labor time. Believe me, these little mechanical computers take alot of work to reman and mod. Also developing processes to shorten production time has been a real killer. So its been quite a learning curve for a couple of backyard tinkerers turned "businessmen".

7aull's carb looked as good as it does in those pics as the day I got in here. I wont take credit for that. I offered to buy it from him it looked so nice. I wanted to display it on my mantle. We decided to make it a Sterlingcarb but keep it looking as stock as possible. It does look really

ApG Spaz, not sure who you are via email, but we are getting the next batch of 5 carbs ready for assembly, and then 5 more before the year is out so hang in there and send an updated email my way if your still interested.

We will mod any manifold, SA or even a shutter valve one.

 

This makes me wish I never sold the Sterling, or even took the 12A out. Ugh, I've known about this little project for a LONG time....I wish I had waited. But, too late now....turbo project is a go.

Maybe I'll buy another 12A 7 just to put this stuff on.

 

That manifold is sexy. Looks like the primaries recieve alot of MUCH needed attention.

Do the runners for the front and rear rotors remain independent from each other throughout the entire manifold?

 

After seeing that carb. I think I need to be alone for a lil while!

 

Yes, after the plenum they are seperate.

 

That turbo will be great once you get it running man. And in the mean time I'm enjoying the hell out of my new Sterling (and you can't have it back! ).

Wow, kinda feels like I'm sleeping with your wife or something (and loving it)....