[bestclimb]

As far as heated intake for carbs go they are a good thing. Not necessarily for changing mixture but for preventing carburetor icing. The shape of the carb inside creates a vacuum (to get the fuel to squirt in in the proper proportion) and in temps up to 70 degrees it is enough to reduce the temp inside the carb to below zero and cause moisture in the air to adhere in the form of ice to the inside walls of the carb causing it to run very very poorly. Only way to fix it is to stop the vehicle let the engine heat warm the carb enough to melt the ice and then continue on. Or use heated air (typically from a shroud on the exhaust manifold) to heat the incoming air enough that the temperature drop at the venturi is not enough to create icing.

Using a carb from a small plane is one of my ideas for a future mod for my Samurai. the mixture would be used in conjunction with an EGT (exhaust gas temperature) gauge. For it to work well you would need to flow match your head and create an intake system with as close to equal as possible fuel/air distribution to the cylinders. Once you are cruising (you would use rich for speeding up to insure you stay well clear of the Peak and a bit richer EGT) then up to cruse pull the knob out until the engine runs rough (means one calender has gone too lean to support combustion) push back in just a bit until the engine is smooth and that is the lowest fuel burn you can get for that throttle position and engine load.