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Got my truck back today. Short story: Carburetor is untunable and is a turd
The shop owner is good friends with another local shop owner that is a Chevy Racer/Quadrajet lover. After I get my "old" Carburetor back on, he wants me to bring this one to him on Monday. He wants to do a deep dive with the other shop owner. He wants to understand how can a supposedly rebuilt carburetor can be so horrible. Also, zero charge - basically he feels really bad for me. |
Buy a Holley and be done with this.
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That's not the point, I been on a mission to replace this '78 Carter with a matching number '72 Quadrajet. Though I didn't think it would be this problemic!
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Wow................ this is almost like a scary sci-fi movie.
Sorry for the dark humor! Good luck with getting this carb sorted out or replaced. |
I give you credit for sticking with it. I’ve followed this from the beginning. I understand wanting to stick to a factory set up if that’s your thing.
I’ve owned plenty of vehicles with Qjets and I don’t mind them but honestly would never choose one of them over a Holley square bore for a toy vehicle. Part throttle is superior with the larger primary side. You give up some mpg but for occasional use vehicles not a big deal In my mind. Super easy to tune and rebuild even for a novice. Drive a Qjet engine then slap a Holley on with a cheap adapter and it will feel like a different vehicle. Posted via Mobile Device |
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The fact is that some carburetors cannot be made to work properly.
Improperly machined at the factory, physically damaged at some point, allowed to get wet and corrode or just mismatched components. The tolerances inside are small and precise. A couple thousands here or there and the fuel and air cannot not flow as designed. See my earlier post 162. Any ideas on how many Qjets GM replaced under warranty? How many of those are still floating around being resold as NOS carburetors? I know of one very rare Pontiac Qjet that has been bought and sold a number of times for big money. A beautiful looking carburetor that simply will not work. I wish you the best of luck finding what you want. If you can't find the problem and need a new core let me know and I can make some calls. |
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If the shop can't figure/fix and you still want a correct QJet, give National Carb here in Jacksonville a try. They have one that matches the # on my truck and reasonably priced. I'll take mine there if/when I decide to rebuild. |
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Enquiring minds want to know. Keep us posted. I hope your truck is running well now.
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Thanks guys, nice to have you alls support :)
I was really feeling like a idiot not being able to get this sorted out, which is why I punted to the shop. Luckily I have got a good place to go to, not sure how he could let me out the door for free... There isn't a real reason for the matching number carb other than I started down the road getting a new carb and decided on getting one that matched the truck. This getting a new carb goes back to May 2020, since my brother wasn't 100% sure how well he would be able to rebuild the '78 one (he never worked on a Quadrajet before). So I decided to go top self and not to cheap out. Funny thing, my shop guy says the one my brother rebuilt was/is running perfectly and describes driving my truck as: "it drives like a new old truck with your old carb". Thank you for the offers on other carbs ... I am not sure if I have the stomach to spend more cash on another carburetor.... PS: On the upside I can swap carbs in like 10 minutes now.... I don't even forget a clip or a vacuum hose anymore ;-) |
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I'll update on any details I get. Thanks again! |
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I am back to one pump in the morning and starts right up in proper fast idle. I am soooo frustrated.
I can't believe the the response I got from Quadrajet Power. You'd think they would want to know what the F**k went wrong, if they are soooo good and experience. With other projects, when a repair has gone wrong I guess I have been lucky with people that actually care what they do. Case in point, I been working a 1948 Wurlitzer. After having the mech rebuilt and brought home it fell flat on it face within a hour or so. The repairman drove out on a Sunday, pulled the mech out and redid the job, replacing even more hard to find parts. Delivered it backed, installed it and insured it worked and I was happy. Zero charge to the travel, re-work, or parts. His opinion, it was his fault and I shouldn't have been allowed to take it home from his shop. Then we have Quadrajet that can hardly return a email, won't offer any real advise, or even allow for a call. Quote:
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interesting, very recent BBB review can be found here below. I swear this guy is my twin on experience with their carb rebuild....
https://www.bbb.org/us/tx/boerne/pro...stomer-reviews |
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I agree, they should have left it stock. It would have run fine and they'd at least have had a baseline. It's not a race car.
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I explicitly told them I was a stock truck with only a mild cam. I told them it was a truck and in no way was a racer or ever would be. I wanted a solid reliable carburetor with a balance of power on WOT and gas milage. I was mainly interested in the bushings for the throttle mod. I am not sure how I could be more clear with them. I then said I leave it to you guys, as the experts.
Live and learn. It was a expensive lesson in cash and time! Edit: I did a review on the BBB site in Central Texas and this is their response: Quote:
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A bit of a update. I was reading another thread where someone recommended Cliffs High Performance Quadrajets. What a super nice fellow and seems to be crazy smart / knowledgeable about Qjets and SBC! I have gotten more information out of Cliff in a few emails then I got from Mark/Quadrajet Power in nearly a year. He also gets "repaired" Quadrajet Power carbs that Mark has messed up, so I am not the only one it seems.
Direct Quote from Cliff after he asked a bunch of question about my engine: Quote:
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So I am going to give this a try .... like I told him, in for a penny, in for a pound LOL Edit: though it seems the piston installed look like the ones that came out of my engine. |
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Good luck with yours, I'm sure Cliff will do it right. |
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"Then you trumped the entire deal with “remanufactured” carburetors. Cripe, I can NOT make them work well without considerable effort as they are “butchered” all to chit and not using stock specs anyplace."
I like this. :metal: Your carb in factory original form should work fine so I don't understand why the other place was tweaking it. |
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FYI: My truck didn't come with the factory original but one from O'Riley's that is a '78 carb. Which was done by the previous owner of my truck.
The idea was to get a numbers matching Rochester Quadrajet 7042208 and when it took 3 to get one that seem right (long story on that), I decided it have it professionally worked on. Needless to say, epic fail on my part. Live and learn. Perhaps my pain will help someone else make a better informed decisions. If that happens, I'd would actually feel a lot better about this whole thing. |
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Years ago I bought what was supposed to be a rebuilt 7041211 for my '71. It worked OK but when I had to rebuild it I found it had a primary choke valve that was impossible for it to open completely. I don't know why I never noticed that but I don't drive with my foot in it. Also, the choke pull-off and rods were wrong.
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I've had quadrajet issues as well with my 1968 C10 with 327. Years ago I bought one from classicindustries with a numbers matching quadrajet carb. Actually ran pretty well out of the box. Since then I have bought carburetors from O'reillies auto parts, Summit Racing, and National carburetors out of Florida. The classic industries worked the best for me and the National Carburetors is what I'm running now and does ok, not great, but ok. The O'reillies one had issues that I couldn't over come and the Summit one just wouldn't work at all. I'm no carburetor guru but it seems to me it is just the luck of the draw at this point with these old carbs... I would love to have Cliff rebuild my carb or sell me the rebuild carb kit, but I'm limited on time as my truck is my daily driver and I count on it to get me back and forth to work nearly everyday. |
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Well, my carb is re-boxed up and ready to go to Cliff. I really love his communication skills, so responsive!
His last bit of information on my pistons, which is a REAL bummer. It's not like I am going to be opening up my engine to correct this. Quote:
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I hope everything works out for you in the end. Sounds like Cliff is the answer to your issue.
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If your block was decked and your heads resurfaced, then maybe the use of "builder" head gaskets just made up for the removed material without reducing the compression or increasing quench.
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Well, there is big chance he'll tell me that I just need to cut loose my Rochester Quadrajet 7042208 and keep on with my Carter Quadrajet. Which is the recommendation of my local shop mechanic. Which he thinks I am nuts as my truck "runs like a dream" as it is. I suppose I am glutton for punishment. Heck I am already bouncing in my head, what would it actually take (cost) to switch out my pistons and use the correct gaskets to have this proper "quench distance" - which until Cliff brought it up I never heard of (no suprise there as I don't know sh*t about SBC). Just when I thought I didn't need to really do anything more to my truck LOL
Hopefully at the very least someone will stumble on this tread and get something out of it before they make their decisions on which path to take on things. That is what this all about, learning and sharing. |
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Do you know if the head mounting surfaces (both on the heads and the engine block) were machined down when your engine was rebuilt?
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