MK 2 4 door Ghia

Hi Ray, welcome to the forums. That's a neat looking 4 door.
What are your plans?

welcome to the forum, looks like you have a pretty solid base to work from.  Lots of very knowlegable people on the forum so don't hesitate to ask questions- even if you think they're silly ones. We all love to see our little fords brought back to their former glory! Len

Looks like a great car to start with,
 
I did a double take when I first saw your pictures as I had an identical Ghia a couple of years ago only a manual. There is even a Ford sales brochure with an identical car featured in it.
 
Have you checked the inline filter isn't partially blocked on the carburetor where the fuel inlet hose attaches?
I used my Ghia as a daily for quite a while and loved it.
Providing the body is OK I would recommend spending money on shocks and any worn suspension bushes, checking the brakes over, a general service and tune the engine including a kit in the carby. Once in good running order I found mine was very reliable and served me well as a daily including starting first go on cold frosty mornings.
When funds permit a manual conversion would be great. I wouldn't recommend too many modifications to start with till you have the basics sorted and funds permit.
If you don't know much about cars get yourself a workshop manual and ask plenty of questions as you go. The Escort is a good car to learn on.
 

Hi Ray, I also have a 2.0 (actually 0.0 at the moment) 4 door ghia, and have just done the 1/4 bumpers, round headlight, minilights and front spoiler, and now hitting the rust, plus learning to mig so its fun.
 
You have an advantage in having it all complete and in good cond to start with.
Nice to see another 4 door getting some love.
 
 

if its only surface rust a good clean up and some deoxidation will sort it. some primer and paint to seal it .  If holes appear when you clean up there are plenty of rust repair sections to put in new metal if required. 

Welcome! My 2c on carbs
32/36 is very capable. Rejet for use with a mild cam and remove choke butterflies. Being a progressive carb it's very road friendly. The first thing I'd check on yours is the idle jets to see if the threads in carb body have been stripped which would cause the lean running condition.
38DGAS has a sudden throttle response. Back to back with the 32/36 I only gained about 0.2 sec over the 1/4 mile but it does have a sportier feel (and sound) to it.
Twin DCOE's are either for show or for cylinder heads that have been ported, bigger valves, higher CR etc. With a reasonable budget, 130WHP is about the average you'd expect from going down that path. It's easy to get sucked into the idea of getting big power with twin webers but there are pros and cons.
Build a mild, reliable motor with a 32/36  and enjoy many years of trouble free motoring.
Build a highly tuned motor on twin carbs and expect fuel vapours and a strip down with new rings every couple of years lol
 

Ray561
I actually have a single side Weber manifold laying there so maybe a single 45 or 48?.

The Lynx manifold is good, but the rest are worse than the stock Ford manifold for the 32/36. A 32/36 is good for 130hp too, so again, there's no need to change it unless the camshaft requires it. There's an interesting thread on Turbosport about mods to 32/36s to get them to flow better. From memory, after testing they were found to be mostly bunkum or detrimental to performance, so personally I wouldn't bother with any of them.
 
http://www.turbosport.co.uk/showthread.php?t=109939