The original carburetor is Zenith, and from what I read is the best suited for land rover series. But the Zenith now is on the phase of extinction, the old one is mostly beyond repair, and it will be lucky if you can get new one at decent price. I am trying to order new Zenith from the manufacturer and they said that they produce no more…
So what is the 2nd best option for our pet..? Landy lovers around the world have tried many things with various success, the following brands are frequently mentioned as the best replacement for Zenith and Solex, not in particular order:
- Rochester BV : for those who live in US seems prefer this option.. you can read it here: http://www.expeditionlandrover.info/landRoverFAQ/FAQ_rochester.htm from Terry Ann Wakeman one of the land rover guru.
- Weber : There are few types of Webers: usually 34ICH and 3236 again you can read it here: http://www.expeditionlandrover.info/LRpartNumbers.htm#carbs from terry wakeman site.
- Skinner Union (SU): The other side of continent, Europe, they seems prefer this option (using SU HS6), a lot of Land rover forum is talking about this type of Carb to replace Zenith or Solex
- Various Japanesse carbs : I’ve seen few landy in Indonesia use japaness carbs and it si going OK..
All in all, I think land rover will take any Carb for its heart transplant, but the question is… what is the best carburetor for her.
I have no means of testing each of the brand, but what I can do is searching online, and read comments about it and asking around in few forums. Now I will give few rating on each of the brand with few attributes (NOTE: this is personal opinion based on reading some online articles or user comments in forums)
| Rochester BV | Weber 34ICH | SU HS6 | |
| Availability | Difficult | Very easy | Easy |
| Easier to install | Easy | Very easy | Difficult |
| Easier to set up | Easy | Difficult | Very easy |
| Fuel Economy | Good | good | Very Good |
| Reliability | Very Reliable | Reliable | Very Reliable |
So which one is the best for our landy…
Weber 34ICH, is a good all round carburetor, its plenty and easily available, easy to install etc. But it is more more susceptible to dirt and water in the fuel and can frequently cause problems if the fuel is not clean and well filtered. Not easy to set up and a bit more sensitive to altitude change.
Rochester BV will be more reliable and easier to set up than Weber, but availability is difficult to obtain and expensive… I was quoted US$ 300 for NOS Rochester BV and the second hand is also quite expensive.
SU HS6, it is very reliable and very simple design, less moving parts hence the reliability. Availability is equal if not better than Rochester BV. Used in many British cars hence second hand are plenty and easier to get… the tricky part is, we need to make some kind of adapter to fit in landy series.
Simple test on the availability, go to ebay and type each type of the carburetor and which one is more readily available.
All in all, if I have access to those threebrands easily, I will say that my choice for the best carburetor for land rover series is SU HS6… I know I simplify a lot of things but that is my conclusion, if you have other opinion.. please write down below.
Will post the set up later
Cheers
Vidinur.net 
Hi, I have the Weber 341CH on my S3 1980 2.25 petrol. It has been in it for the last 3 years, no probs at all but when the fuel is gone in the fuel tank it chugs for a little, the only other is slight leak between the carb and the manifold, both of these are ‘normal’. Hope this helps some.
Martin
It is a good all round carburetor I am sure you like it… and it is the choice of many landy owner, I have tried weber 34ICH works OK, slightly lean but it helps to keep the cost of fuel down compare to Zenith.. :). However when I use SU HS6, I notice additional power without sacrificing the fuel economy. Throttle it up or down, no stutter no blurp no nothing just solid oohmph… :)