1973 qjet on a 85 monte??

[Bonnewagon]

'73 carb "should" have an integral hot air choke on the side. Super easy to convert to electric. Top pic is- vacuum booster line for power brakes that screws into the base of the carb. There are different size fittings over the years, adapters fix any problems. Cable is transmission TV cable, snaps onto throttle linkage. THAT may be a problem as '73 only offered the T-350 and T-400 trans. Again, adapters are available. Next pic is the EGR valve, on all cars beginning in '73. 454 is a big motor, but the beauty of the Q-jet is it can be adapted to almost any size motor. You can change jets and metering rods, and the '73 carb will probably idle a lot better than an '85 model.

 

[jim]

Alright!! I ended up taking the throttle plate off of the original carb and slapping it on the '73 due to the fact that the vacuum booster for the power brakes didnt have anywhere to plug into on the '73.. Should any problems arise from that? Otherwise the swap was pretty much flawless... At the moment the engine is able to turn over but doesnt idle... IE it needs constant gas coming in to keep running. But the cause is pretty simple... The choke isnt hooked up to anything! Any recommended conversion kits?

 

[jim]

a few more questions:
1- Do you have any recommendations for a better carb?
2- How do I know where the vacuum points on the carb are?
3- The problem with the idle is almost certainly caused by the choke right?
4- Can I take the choke from the stock carb and put it on the 73 carb?
Thanks for all the help so far!!

 

[vanrah]

Greetings Guys; I see that you are considering a Performer intake? My good buddy has my old one & it's for sale Including the Preformer cam (3000 mi) lifters (very good condition), springs, nice Comp Cams push rods (7.8"?) and a 650 Edelbrock carb that I just cleaned up. Luckily he drained out the gas before storing it so it cleaned up well. And I could of forgot something else that might be included. He hasn't set a price yet, sorry, but you could ask for pictures & make offer if you like. Let me know & I'll give you his phone #. The Performer intake was mine and I had it anodized black, dirt, oil & wet nasties don't show up on it very well. Bob Jr.

 

[DoubleV]

Alright!! I ended up taking the throttle plate off of the original carb and slapping it on the '73 due to the fact that the vacuum booster for the power brakes didnt have anywhere to plug into on the '73.. Should any problems arise from that?

Yeah, there's no vacuum to the power piston for one. I'm sure there might be some other issues as well. Basically it's not a wise choice. Heck I didn't even know you could swap throttle plates between late and early model Qjets....

Anyway it sounds like you are a novice when it comes to cars. That being the case you should keep things as simple as possible or you're just going to bugger something up and get frustrated. IMO, you should just get a late 70's and later Chevy-style ( aka side fuel inlet ) non CCC Qjet. If the linkage on any of these carb aren't quite right to hook everything up perfectly like on your stock carb, then swap the throttle linkage from your original CCC carb to the other carb. You will probably not be able to do this yourself but you shouldn't have much trouble finding someone to do this.

In the end you need to do the 'right' thing and that means you have to suck it up and spend a few bucks. Don't try to do cobble up some POS and get it to work correctly because you'll just end up paying more money in the long run. Do it right the first time and you'll be happy you did.

 

[techg8]

Alright!! I ended up taking the throttle plate off of the original carb and slapping it on the '73 due to the fact that the vacuum booster for the power brakes didnt have anywhere to plug into on the '73.. Should any problems arise from that?

Yeah, there's no vacuum to the power piston for one. I'm sure there might be some other issues as well. Basically it's not a wise choice. Heck I didn't even know you could swap throttle plates between late and early model Qjets....

Anyway it sounds like you are a novice when it comes to cars. That being the case you should keep things as simple as possible or you're just going to bugger something up and get frustrated. IMO, you should just get a late 70's Chevy-style ( aka side fuel inlet ) Qjet. I'm sure there are plenty of 80's non-CCC Qjets that came on trucks too that you can use as well. If the linkage on any of these carb aren't quite right to hook everything up perfectly like on your stock carb, then swap the throttle linkage from your original CCC carb to the other carb. You will probably not be able to do this yourself but you shouldn't have much trouble finding someone to do this.

In the end you need to do the 'right' thing and that means you have to suck it up and spend a few bucks. Don't try to do cobble up some POS and get it to work correctly because you'll just end up paying more money in the long run. Do it right the first time and you'll be happy you did.

Double V is spot on. that baseplate swap is not going to be the best thing for several reasons. basically it is a Quadrajet "version" mismatch. 4MV and E4ME just arent compatible.

Its good advise to look for a chevy truck 305 or 350 carb - it should have everything you need.

here is a Qjet chevy truck core on ebay that should work for you:
non-CCC M4M style, electric choke, TV cable hookup etc

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Chevy-Quadrajet ... b1&vxp=mtr

note that it is the style of Qjet that the aforementioned Edelbrock 1904 was based on.
http://www.everyday-performance.com/qua ... d=37315863

 

[axisg]

another option is to put the older carb back together and try it. You can switch the vacuum source from the carb to the intake to retain your power brakes but you will need a different threaded nipple for the intake.

 

[jim]

I think I want to get a new carb like you advise...... A few more questions:

-How exactly do electric non-ccc's work?

-Can my ccc carb be converted to work without the computer? That is to say, could the choke be powered from a manual switch instead of the computer? It seems like if power is hooked up to it with a switch, it would work fine as far as I could tell.

-will the aforementioned qjet (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Chevy-Quadrajet ... b1&vxp=mtr) be easy to rebuild if necessary? It seems like it would be ideal for my situation.

A novice is right, but thats why they have forums 😀

 

[techg8]

I think I want to get a new carb like you advise...... A few more questions:

-How exactly do electric non-ccc's work?

-Can my ccc carb be converted to work without the computer? That is to say, could the choke be powered from a manual switch instead of the computer? It seems like if power is hooked up to it with a switch, it would work fine as far as I could tell.

-will the aforementioned qjet (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Chevy-Quadrajet ... b1&vxp=mtr) be easy to rebuild if necessary? It seems like it would be ideal for my situation.

A novice is right, but thats why they have forums 😀

The only thing electric about a non-cCC carb is the choke. 12V is put to the carb mounted choke coil when the ignition is turned on, and the coil heats up and slowly opens the choke.

Your CCC carb can "work" without the computer but it will be in power mode, full rich, all the time. You cannot convert the CCC mixture control solenoid style carb to the primary metering setup of the non CCC styles - they just are not interchangeable. But Yes the choke certainly could be wired thru a manual switch if you so desired.

Any Quadrajet it "easy to rebuild" if you consider a "rebuild" to be throwing a gasket kit in the carb.

However, My biased opinion (since I own and operate www.everyday-performance.com) is that you (especially as a novice) should send the carb to a professional to get it "done right". Especially an ebay core. There is just no telling what is doing with a carb when bought off ebay. A specialist will be able to find and fix any problem.

 

[DoubleV]

How exactly do electric non-ccc's work?

That's a pretty big question. That's like asking 'how does the human body work'. Basically a non-CCC carb uses vacuum to meter fuel and a CCC carb meters the fuel electrically via the MC solenoid ( which is controlled by the ECM ).

-Can my ccc carb be converted to work without the computer? That is to say, could the choke be powered from a manual switch instead of the computer? It seems like if power is hooked up to it with a switch, it would work fine as far as I could tell.

No a CCC carb cannot be converted to a non-CCC carb. With that said it sounds to me you are confused on what makes your carb a CCC carb. Seems like you're associating 'electric choke' with meaning 'CCC carb'. Not the case. The style of choke ( either electronic or hot air ) has nothing to do whether a carb is a CCC carb or not. You can have an older style non-CCC carb that has an electric choke just as you can have a CCC carb that uses a 'hot air' choke.

And don't try to reinvent the wheel. No 'manual switches' need to be on your choke if it's set up properly.

-will the aforementioned qjet (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Chevy-Quadrajet ... b1&vxp=mtr) be easy to rebuild if necessary? It seems like it would be ideal for my situation.

If you know how to rebuild Qjets and that carb doesn't have any major issues it's pretty easy to rebuild. If your a novice and/or the carb has some major problems then it will be much more difficult. If you have a reasonable amount of mechanical apptitude you should be able to do a simple stock rebuild with the guidence of others to help. You can always get it rebuilt by someone who knows Qjets.

A novice is right, but thats why they have forums 😀

Yes but be carefull who you 'learn' from and who you're taking advice from though!

With all this said, you should do some reading up on Qjets. Plenty of good info out there on them that will help clear up all the muck and give you an understanding on how they work.