My Latest Carburetor (q-jet guys will get a kck out of this)

[Bonnewagon]

Re: My Latest Carburetor (q-jet guys will get a kck out of t

"I spent Saturday afternoon, into the evening tearing the base plate down, cleaning it, tweaking it to work properly, in prep for installation on my carb. This is only change I made, just the base plate with a timed vac port, " Like I said, the wrong throttle plate or even the wrong gasket can upset the vacuum distribution. Also-"idle would go sky high," when the throttle blades are way open, the ported vacuum slots now "see" manifold vacuum, thus maybe you THOUGHT it was manifold vacuum, but really it was ported all along, but acting like manifold, and now that the idle is correct, it's acting properly. Either way, isn't it a pleasure to dial in a Q-jet? Because when you are done and satisfied with it, you can forget it. It will work great until it gets dirty, many years from now.

 

[Oldsmoletick]

Re: My Latest Carburetor (q-jet guys will get a kck out of t

lol, definitely a pleasure, :lol: , I've never had a q-jet bust my balls like this before, all the ones I've had on the malibu and cutlai over the years have always been gremlin free, and easy to work with, lol. I know the throttle plate I originally used was in good working order (checked and re checked, lol), there really was no provision for ported vacuum (I looked again, the slots that would be above the plates, were not there). This carb was Holley reman at one point, so, who knows, maybe they just grab random parts from buckets and throw them together, or do other things they shouldn't :lol: . Anyway, lol, at least it works properly now , none the less, a learning experience that gave me more knowledge and a better understanding of these carbs. I now also understand why many people don't like them, definitely not a carb for someone with a short fuse, :lol: .

 

[Bonnewagon]

Re: My Latest Carburetor (q-jet guys will get a kck out of t

" definitely not a carb for someone with a short fuse, :lol: ". Right there you hit the nail on the head. All my "mechanic" friends expect every carb to work awesome right out of the box, and of course they don't. Never mind the 100,000 mile Q-jet that worked great up to then is "too hard" to rebuild and you get the bad rep.

 

[pontiacgp]

Re: My Latest Carburetor (q-jet guys will get a kck out of t

One of the reasons I like the q-jet is when there is a problem with it track down that problem with a bit of patience and once that problem is fixed properly it does not come back. A holley on the other hand crops up problems out of no where and adjusting it is a never ending chore. That's what gets to my patience

 

[Clone TIE Pilot]

Re: My Latest Carburetor (q-jet guys will get a kck out of t

lol, definitely a pleasure, :lol: , I've never had a q-jet bust my balls like this before, all the ones I've had on the malibu and cutlai over the years have always been gremlin free, and easy to work with, lol. I know the throttle plate I originally used was in good working order (checked and re checked, lol), there really was no provision for ported vacuum (I looked again, the slots that would be above the plates, were not there). This carb was Holley reman at one point, so, who knows, maybe they just grab random parts from buckets and throw them together, or do other things they shouldn't :lol: . Anyway, lol, at least it works properly now , none the less, a learning experience that gave me more knowledge and a better understanding of these carbs. I now also understand why many people don't like them, definitely not a carb for someone with a short fuse, :lol: .

Holly reman? Only thing to do with that carb is put it in the trash can. Reman compaines do a real number to their carbs, and yes they do grab random usable Qjet parts to cobble thogether a POS to sell off. This is besides them using generic spec parts for all applications instead of factory spec parts for individual applications. In short, you will never get a reman Qjet to ever work right again, they butchered the poor thing and swapped around miss matching parts and used low grade rebuild kits. That is besides the acid baths that weakens the castings. Reman companies are also known to use some nasty jerry rigging such as makig metering rods out of wire. Even Cliff Ruggles says that it's almost impossible to revert a reman Qjet back to GM factory specs. You are much better off finding a Qjet that has never been touched by a reman company.

 

[pontiacgp]

Re: My Latest Carburetor (q-jet guys will get a kck out of t

why junk it, Oldsmoletick said he's got it running properly now

 

[Bonnewagon]

Re: My Latest Carburetor (q-jet guys will get a kck out of t

I too have never seen a remand carb work right. That is why I rebuild all my own and if I can score an unmolested original, that's just super. But what I often do is throw a whole pile of parts on a table and build one from scratch. Having the spec sheets makes it more likely the carb will be right on.http://www.newagemetal.com/

 

[G-Body_Vet]

Re: My Latest Carburetor (q-jet guys will get a kck out of t

I too have never seen a remand carb work right. [/url]

My uncle bought a few re-man q-jets back in the day and they never ran right either. I'm a fan of rebuilding my own too.

 

[Clone TIE Pilot]

Re: My Latest Carburetor (q-jet guys will get a kck out of t

why junk it, Oldsmoletick said he's got it running properly now

Many of them do irreversible things to the carb castings. Such as drilling out the threads for the factory screw in valve seat and use a press in seat that are poor flowing and phrone to leaking. Heli-coil the main jet threads which also causes leaks. I already said they acid dip the castings as a cheap way to clean them but it really weakens and softens the pot metal alloy and can even make them porous enough to leak vacuum. They also drive plugs into the idle air bypass which can be very hard to remove without damaging the castings.

While it's good to hear Oldsmoletick has got it running okay, it probably still is not at it's best and never may be able to do it's best. Also the carb since once being reman may not last as long as an unmolested core.

 

[olds307 and 403]

Re: My Latest Carburetor (q-jet guys will get a kck out of t

The Holley reman are the only reman worth considering. Mine didn't give me any problems for 5 years. The only thing I don't like is the unmarked mystery rods in it. I also added a bigger needle and seat after running out of fuel half way down the 1/8 mile. It needs a new vacuum pull off now causing a bog. lt starting flooding after the rpm intake install, pulled the float and .149 needle and seat out of the track carb, works fine. I am going to pull the 403 factory 48 primary rods and 73 jets and try them in this carb. There was 71 jets and mystery rods in this carb, also unmarked secondary rods were in it.