sterling carb fuel economy
 

just wondering what kind of gas mileage do you get in your sterling nikki?
do the holley 465 have better gas mileage?

i have a stock 13b 4 port with and 3 carbs
dellorto dhla 48, (very very bad fuel economy, more power than any other, hard to find parts)
stock hitachi (normal fuel economy, normal power, hard to find parts, have some trouble tunning it)
stock nikki (awesome fuel economy, normal power, its very old and needs a rebuild)

but i want something in the middle like holley 465 or a sterling,

i read a lot already and holley have some problems taking curves.
the sterling only problem is the old manifold (13b 4 port manifold), that you have to mod to fit a nikki.

i just want a stable carb, so i can take my rx7 to work some days, without having issues and a carb that doesn't drain my bank account.

Thanks for the help :)

To get a Sterling carb from Sterling, will take many months. A better option is to buy one from a forum member. There's a guy selling one right now. This is sure to attract Sterling into this thread. Just wait...

Oh and that Orion guy will surely see this and offer up some good advice, seeing as he has a Sterling on a 4 port 13B.

I personally have several 4 port 13Bs but none have Nikkis on them. I've got enough of the old school 22mm venturi Hitachis for the stock ports and a couple of Edelbrocks and Holleys for the streetports and/or stock ports, depending on application.

My gas mileage varies from 10mpg to a bit more depending on carb, application, porting etc. A Sterling could be tuned for very lean running, I'm sure.

well 10mpg is what i get from my dellorto and thats very bad for me :(

Why not just rebuild your stock Nikki? It can be modded mildly. Do a search and you'll find alot of info. Sterling's site is amazing check it out www.sterlingmetalworks.com

I've had my Sterling for years, and have been very happy with it. Happy enough that I've never considered even trying anything else.

Fuel economy will depend on how you jet it (jets can be easily swapped out with the Sterling) and how you drive it. Driving it economically will be damn near impossible simply because the power is so damned addicting. But sometimes I manage to pull it off with great results.

While I was coming back to Michigan from North Carolina, using my standard race jetting, I managed 23 mpg by keeping fairly tight control on my throttle control module (right foot). When I race, I get about 2 mpg. I think that shows some flexibility on the part of the carb. The nice thing is, you can feel it through the resistance in the pedal when the secondaries start to open up. That is the point where the huge power comes in, and the mpg goes out the window. So it is controllable.

The toughest part with a Sterling is actually getting your hands on one. Sterling also has a bit of a reputation for being hard to get along with. I've never had a problem with him, and his customer service has always been excellent based on my own personal experience. And I didn't even buy my carb from him, I bought it second hand through this forum.

I think that the main problem is that he doesn't have patience for people who won't do the research before coming to him with stupid questions. He took the time to put all of the necessary information right there for you, and doesn't have the time to spoon feed every customer. But bring him a good question, and he'll bury you with research and information. But you have to remember that he is a family guy, with a full time job, and is doing this on the side.

But, as with anything else, your mileage may vary. :)











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^^^ well put, Kentetsu


But yeah, I agree a sterling carb can be easily as economical as a stock nikki, depending on jetting.

Like Jibaro 12a I also think you would be very happy with your stock nikki and some basic modifications. A rebuild seems intimidating, but I find it pretty fun to do. It's easy as long s you're organized about it and research the forum and sterling's site thoroughly first.

As of Sept. 15th, it will be a year I've been waiting for my sterling. Still no word on when I'll actually be seeing it. A bummer to say the least. Just thought you should have all the info first.

Here's "that Orion guy".

Yes I did put a Sterling on a 13B Hitachi carb manifold. I just dropped it off at a machine shop with the Nikki carb spacer, told him what I needed and picked it up next day drilled and tapped with the studs moved in. The Nikki runners line up perfectly with the manifold runners, the only difference is the bolt spacing. I've put about 600 miles on the new engine and it runs and drives beautifully. Needs tuning but the car is parked until spring. Once I get it up and going again I'll get booked on the dyno after some butt dyno tuning.

I would wholeheartedly recommend a Sterling, based on his support and craftmanship. However, and this is just a guess, I doubt he's in production at the moment since I've read posts from a couple people still waiting on their carbs. That used one would be a great buy, so I suggest you check it out.

When I emailed him last, he said it would be 8-12 months before I would get it. I bought one from a forum member.

I recommend buying the used on on here. Very good guy selling it, too!

I put mine on, and Im in the early stages of tuning. Let me tell you, it is a DREAM compared to the old Holley 600 I had. The throttle response is insane over what I had.

hey guys thanks for all the information.

well, from what i can read here that sterling carb is like a rare gem, i check and many people move from holley's to sterlings (if you have the luck to find one), there isn't any sterling on sale on the traders forums.

I gonna try my old nikki this weekend, already check sterling site info, is there any other site where i can read how to mod my nikki?

Do a search here on the forums for tuning a Nikki, or modifying a Nikki, and see what pops up. I usually will limit the search to the first generation section only so that I don't have to weed through so many posts. Also check out the Mazspeed site for information that could help, especially the emissions removal section. I could help as well. If you look at Sterlings site, there is alot of helpful information about what he has done to modify his carbs. You can gleen from this what can be done easily and what can't. I used this informaiton to modify mine for mechanical secondaries, along with adjusting the accelerator pump to work properly with them. He also gives some information about what he has done internally with his carbs, that if a person was very industrious, could use as a blueprint for modding a Nikki even further.

I would do an edelbrock 500 thunder series on a rb intake. Simple to tune, nice electric choke, etc. Just need to be creative with the omp and linkage or go premix. Wouldn't hurt to try a build yourself on a nikki and lean out the jets a bit.

As for Sterling, good guy, good product, but it is truly a spare time hobby , so you have to respect the timeline. That being said, his product is build from heart and experience, and since it does not pay the bills I am sure he is selective with his time and clientele.

It's a love / hate relationship. I love to do it; I hate the responsibilities. I love helping customers and non-customers, and I hate not having people's orders filled in a timely manor. It's a monkey on my back. Meanwhile, I work 1 1/2 jobs to barely make ends meet, my rex sits in a neglected heap, rotting in my driveway having not been driven in 4 years. That's right, folks. I have not driven an Rx-7 in FOUR YEARS. I use it to idle tune, and that's about it.
I'm hoping to get completely caught up on all of my outstanding orders during September. After that I'm just going to build & sell, and not take prepaid orders anymore.

I gotta say, it's really just pride that keeps me doing these carbs. I don't have a lot of life-achievements under my belt, but I am good at the few things I do; I'm a trained jeweler, silversmith and now I'm working QC at a large machine shop. They are all OCD-positive type jobs; the more nit-picky you are at them (anal?) the better you are at them.
The same thing with these carbs.
The Sterling Nikki isn't me, it's you. Kentetsu's right, as Jeff will tell you; I'm an ornery fuck sometimes. The Sterling's my baby, and I'm proud of it, but it's not me. It makes me (ornery fuck that I am) part of something great, even though I only have a POS Rx-7.

Well. that's my heart-felt blah-blah-blah about it all. I hope i can get my shit together before this gets to be too much weight to deal with.
I have a special bond with the Rx-7. Here's my tear-jerking story:

I'm epileptic. I was diagnosed at 11 years old, and had Grande Mal seizures through my 20s. High school in my rural community really sucked for me. While everyone else was buddied up with, or had a car of their own, I was having seizures and pissing myself in front of everyone. I even had a friggin seizure standing in line on graduation day to receive my diploma!
Fuck me. Reeeeeal high self esteem.
So out here in cow-ville farmy NY, I was forced to ride my bicycle everywhere until the neurologists finally got me on something that worked (enough Depakote for a horse). Couldn't get a license. -Something about the possibility of having a seizure behind the wheel and killing a whole family in a minivan in a head-on collision, or some such nonsense...lol.
I was 32 years old when I had finally been seizure-free for one year. I could FINALLY get my license.
My buddy says to me one day that his dad wants to clean out their shed (garage) and get the car that belonged to his older sister out of there. He says his father just wants to get rid of it. My buddies parents live right down the street, so I go take a look. I never knew there was a car in there, under all that shit.
After filling the tires up on a car that had sat in the garage for more than 6 years, my buddy and I pushed a gold 1982 GSL Rx-7 up the road to my driveway.
Finally. My first car.
I've had one ever since.

So you see, for me particularly, being called a "carburetor guru" for these cars, as silly as I think that really is (Jeff probably knows as much as I do), is a source of great pride for me.


Good Scotch. Happy Labor Day weekend. I'll be out in the garage working on Stans carb tomorrow morning.

great story :) cheered me up

which rb intake fits with edelbrock 500 carb?

i work on my nikki this weekend and drill the old 13b 4 port manifold to fit the nikki, i did a quick test on the car and it start, but still need some work. i took some pics.

rb holley intake

Thank you for the insight Dennis. My little sister had (thankfully, had) epilepsy from about 2 until she was in her teens. There is no way to describe the problems it can cause in a person's life.

I had an autocross at a very nice road course today. It was pouring rain the entire time, except for my last run which was just a drizzle. I took 1st place in CSP, and I gaurantee that I could not have done that without the throttle response that your carb delivered. There was hardly any traction, and when you add that to off camber turns, elevation changes, puddles, and blind corners, you need every weapon that you can get your hands on.

The carb performs, simply put. Which is the only reason that I have always spoken so highly of them.

Unfortunately, on the way home from the race, on a three lane stretch of highway, less than a mile from my exit, I got taken out by a drunk driver. He basically pulled a pit maneuver on me and stuffed the front of my car under the wheels of an SUV, which immediately flipped and rolled. We were all very lucky to be in one piece after that, and I thank God that I was able to walk away from it.

She (my car), will need major reconstruction, but I hope to be able to eventually get her back on her feet. It will probably take a parts car to do it. Oh, and the drunk drove off into the sunset. Nice.

Anyway, this really has nothing to do with the topic of this thread, but you poured your heart out and I'm really upset about what happened, so you triggered my own response. :) I am not a happy person tonight. I'll start a thread later on (when I can deal with it) with details and photos.

Oh yeah, I also got some great footage from the event that I'll have to post up. It was a hell of a victory for me, considering the competition and conditions. So, Dennis, thank you for yet another win. :)

Holy crap, Kentetsu, that's terrible news. Glad everyone is okay, at least.

Oh no. That's so bad, Kentetsu. I just heard this terrible news from a friend of yours who was looking at you car yesterday.
I'm so glad you were'nt hurt. You're so much more likely to get hurt in an accident on the freeway than on the track, for a variety of reasons (-safety gear, no drunk drivers, and experienced drivers on the track.... But I also know from experience that these cars, as much as I love them, crumple like cheap suits if they're hit the wrong way.

I can start building you a replacement carb now, if you need one. It might be done by the time you've fixed your car. lol
Seriously, anything I can do. I've got a couple pairs of complete head lights (red) and small bits that I'll gladly contribute to the cause. And I will freshen up your carb for free. It's the least I can do after how much you've helped me out over the years.
Just really glad you're ok.

Damn, glad you are Ok.

So theres not going to be anymore Sterling carbs?

Definitely glad you're okay Kentetsu. Bigger, faster, stronger as they say. Keep in mind, if it's too mangled sometimes it's easier to get another car and transfer your parts over. I've had to do that before. Got hit head on from a guy without insurance.

Again happy to hear everyone is okay!

Yes, there will still be Sterling Nikkis.