Advice Needed: Weber vs. Original Aisan Carburetor on 1971 FJ4

[redshiftquasars]

I recently purchased a 1971 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40 that appears to have been well cared for over the years. According to the information I have, the engine was rebuilt in 1992. The engine is clean and runs okay with the current setup.

At the moment, the vehicle has a Weber carburetor installed. However, the previous owner provided me with the original Aisan carburetor, which has a date code “2 A 12”. The Aisan carburetor looks to be in very good condition, though it may need a rebuild.

I’m reaching out to the forum to ask for your advice:

• Would you recommend rebuilding and reinstalling the original Aisan carburetor?
• Or should I stick with the Weber carburetor that’s currently on the vehicle?

I appreciate any insights or experiences you can share regarding the performance, reliability, and ease of maintenance between these two carburetors.

Thank you in advance for your help!

Best regards

 

[Green Bean]

Congrats on your recent acquisition. I think that you will get mixed opinions. There are many members that run Webbers with no problems whatsoever and whom are fans. On the other hand, however, lots of us have the original factor carbs and can vouch for their robust dependability. Some purists in the group may argue that keeping everything "stockish" under the hood is the way to go. The factory setup allows for use of the OE air breather is kind of neat looking. If you decide to have your original carb rebuilt, I believe that there are some great instructional videos. Alternatively, there are some great carb gurus who are members who you can ship it off to for a rebuild. Having a good backup carb on your shelf is never a bad thing.

 

[charliemeyer007]

I'm not a Weber guy. My 72 came set up to me in 82 with a Rochester 2bbl and a Delco distributor. I added the header when the cast iron manifold cracked in half, 85-6ish. Changed to an electric fuel pump around that time. I have never seen any good reason to change anything. I did some dizzy and carb work maybe 2010 era. I swapped out the center shaft in the dizzy and unstuck the leather cup accelerator pump washer. Just before I left for the university, dad and I took the starter and alternator apart to make sure everything was good brush/bearing wise. Every few weeks I'd do the 600 mile round trip to home and back.

I mostly get around 25mpg. I made the trip once back to school in 4H the hole way and got nearly 20mpg. My 84 F150 with the 300 I6 gets 17 mpg at best, that why I want Elsie back on the road.