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Quadrajet carbs.. yay or nay?

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by jkeckss, Jul 17, 2013.

  1. Dane
    Joined: May 6, 2010
    Posts: 1,351

    Dane
    Member
    from Soquel, CA

    Check the throttle shafts for excessive wear before forking over any cash. They can be fixed but it's mo money...
     
  2. MATACONCEPTS
    Joined: Aug 7, 2009
    Posts: 2,069

    MATACONCEPTS
    BANNED

    Get the Q-Jet adaptor it's like $10 & get a GM HEI Distributor too.
     
  3. MATACONCEPTS
    Joined: Aug 7, 2009
    Posts: 2,069

    MATACONCEPTS
    BANNED

    Come to think of it, you should pick up a Chevy motor to match that carb
     
  4. Dane
    Joined: May 6, 2010
    Posts: 1,351

    Dane
    Member
    from Soquel, CA

    :D Touché...
     
  5. ginuine555
    Joined: Jun 17, 2006
    Posts: 104

    ginuine555
    Member
    from louisiana

    It took me a few times rebuilding one to get it right many years ago. After that learning experience i would not hesitate to build them for friends. They were great carbs. It's funny this came up at this time. I was telling my son about my experience of these carbs the other day and that I think I invented new curse words during that time.:)
     
  6. tfeverfred
    Joined: Nov 11, 2006
    Posts: 15,791

    tfeverfred
    Member Emeritus

    When I first built my T, I used one and loved it. It was probably the best carb I have ran, but damn it's ugly. On an open hooded car, it just looks ugly, IMO. But under a hood and a BIG air cleaner, I'd use one in a heart beat.
     
  7. jkeckss
    Joined: Dec 1, 2011
    Posts: 21

    jkeckss
    Member

    Haha, if I had the patience to do the work, wiring, etc.. LQ9 or LS would be a serious option, but I like the idea of the ford motor in my ford and the 5.0 is light and makes decent power.. this thing will have as little wiring as possible, trying to keep my first build as simple as possible
     
  8. sunbeam
    Joined: Oct 22, 2010
    Posts: 6,213

    sunbeam
    Member

    What he said
     
  9. mtkawboy
    Joined: Feb 12, 2007
    Posts: 1,213

    mtkawboy
    Member

  10. Larry T
    Joined: Nov 24, 2004
    Posts: 7,875

    Larry T
    Member

    Ford thought enough of Quadrajets to put them on 429 CJ from the factory (around 1970).
     
  11. bobkatrods
    Joined: Sep 22, 2008
    Posts: 755

    bobkatrods
    Member
    from aledo tx

    That pretty well sums it up !!!!
     
  12. carbking
    Joined: Dec 20, 2008
    Posts: 3,715

    carbking
    Member

    Ford also thought enough of Quadrajets to put them on a host of performance non-smog small blocks for the Australian market.

    Jon.
     
  13. The problem I have found with picking up these carbs second hand is that as the two front mounting bolts go all the way through the carb including the top, previous owner get carried away with those bolts and over tighten them warping everything causing sealing issues. Have a careful look in this area when looking at a potential purchase.
     
  14. stimpy
    Joined: Apr 16, 2006
    Posts: 3,546

    stimpy

    don't know what your talking about , a q jet has less parts than a Holley and Abf , and no powervalves to blow out or have to change with altitude or weather changes . you have a vacume controlled primary jet set , and a secondary vacume controlled jet set , and the mixtures are controlled by the needles not a jet and it adjusts quite well to conditions , hardest part is adjusting the secondary airflap ( you must leave the dampner on it ! ) , once you learn how to do it there easy .
    a Holley is a gas toilet compard to a Q jet design , and the best thing is the 350 cfm primarys for milage . if you get bad milage its a adjustment issue ussually the float, the idle adjustment ( timing ), as for fine tuning parts there out there just google it . been to the upper 9 second range at 140 mph in the quarter with a Quadrajet . its a great carb once you learn how to tune it . not like a holley slap it on and let it drip . FORD used them on the COBRA jets vs the Holleys , wonder why ??? ( oops just saw jons post )
     
  15. stimpy
    Joined: Apr 16, 2006
    Posts: 3,546

    stimpy

    Get the Quadrajet Book By Doug Roe , not the one by Ruggles ( which is basically a rewrite) , Roe was a engineer at Rochester , I met Doug several times when I raced , very nice guy and helped me tune mine better , we lost a very knowledgeable person when he passed .
     
  16. falcongeorge
    Joined: Aug 26, 2010
    Posts: 18,341

    falcongeorge
    Member
    from BC

    Well, that says it all, forget the Q-jet. You should probably get an edelbrock.
     
  17. 34Larry
    Joined: Apr 25, 2011
    Posts: 1,701

    34Larry
    Member

    I've had them, they are ok, but some call them quadrapuke's for some reason.
     
  18. drdoom
    Joined: Mar 18, 2007
    Posts: 65

    drdoom
    Member
    from new jersey

    great carbs. check out Quadrajetparts.com. really good info.and updated parts for todays shit gas
     
  19. rottenleonard
    Joined: Nov 7, 2008
    Posts: 1,993

    rottenleonard
    Member

    Just put some throttle shaft bushing in one a few minutes ago, first one in months. We use to do several a day.

    Have to agree with the general census, when people take the time to actually figure out how they work and learn all of the adjustments a light seems to go off in there head and all of a sudden that quadrapuke becomes the best carb designed ever...weird.
     
  20. hoop98
    Joined: Jan 23, 2013
    Posts: 1,362

    hoop98
    Member
    from Texas

    As a rookie in 1970 I loved Q-Jets, 2GC's, Monojets, hated 4 jets (12 float adjustments) of course the Buick Q-Jets didn't seem to have 1/2 the problems of Chevies. The worst Q-Jets, which Buick didn't have, were the Carters. Funky looking castings, threads crumbling. IMO

    Of course once you do your first thousand or so nothing should be too hard...well maybe a Motorcraft 4350 ....
     
  21. saltflats
    Joined: Aug 14, 2007
    Posts: 12,592

    saltflats
    Member
    from Missouri

    What type of tranny I know the kickdown was talked about. What are you going to do with the car?
     
  22. Lobucrod
    Joined: Mar 22, 2006
    Posts: 4,122

    Lobucrod
    Alliance Vendor
    from Texas

    Ive run Q-jets since the 70's. Little tricky to get set up but when there right they work great. I picked up a Edelbrock Q-jet at a swap meet for 15 bucks a while back. It looked like it may have been only run a short while if at all. I located a 66 nailhead Q-jet intake and put it on the 401 in my 50 sedan delivery. Wouldn't have anything else on it now.
     
  23. Engine man
    Joined: Jan 30, 2011
    Posts: 3,480

    Engine man
    Member
    from Wisconsin

    Q-jets are very vacuum dependent and could be set up to work well on stock engines. Modified engines with funky camshafts, big valves and low restriction exhaust systems can have inconsistent vacuum. They also work better with a manifold designed to be used with one not so well with an adapter. Tuning is best done on a dyno stand so you have actual data.
     
  24. Deuces
    Joined: Nov 3, 2009
    Posts: 23,751

    Deuces

    Nay!... Quadra-bogs don't do nothing for me..:eek:
     
  25. 68vette
    Joined: Jul 28, 2009
    Posts: 306

    68vette

    The quadrajet on my vette has been on there since 1984....has never missed a beat...back in early 70, I put a quadrajet style Holly on there....jerked it off the next day...cut my horsepower and speed in half.

    My 51 ford with 305 had a 72 quadrajet rebuilt and tuned by me and my mechanic and it got 24.6 and 24.4 mpg running 70-80 with NO overdrive...I have one very very simular to that one on my fleetline that is still in progress...it has a 700R...thinking 30 MPG.

    If you want to hear either one, they are on Utube....just type in 1968 corvette sunday drive...or 51 ford custom for sale....its blue....and its sold okay.
     
  26. Pontiac Slim
    Joined: Jan 16, 2003
    Posts: 1,188

    Pontiac Slim
    Member Emeritus

    As stated by many, if set up right the Q-jets can't be beat ! I ran the Holleys for year and seems each year needed a rebuild... Have now 2 Q Jets on a t-ram and haven't touched um in six years. I don't think they look all that great but they work !
    Pontiac Slim
     

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  27. HEATHEN
    Joined: Nov 22, 2005
    Posts: 8,552

    HEATHEN
    Member
    from SIDNEY, NY

    One of their advantages is, once they're working the way you want them to, they tend to stay that way. I've had Q-jets that literally sat idle for years on a shelf and, once I put them back on a car, fired up and ran like they did when they were last used. Any time I ever tried that with a Holley, they had a severe incontinence problem.
     
  28. jkeckss
    Joined: Dec 1, 2011
    Posts: 21

    jkeckss
    Member

    The tranny is a ford AOD, car will be a street machine.. rug er every now and then but highly unlikely I will be doing much for drags etc.. I know AOD needs a lokar kickdown kit to work with carbs, not sure if/how that applies to the quadrajet vs say an edelbrock
     
  29. stimpy
    Joined: Apr 16, 2006
    Posts: 3,546

    stimpy

    apartently you never raced with one , as for the vacum dependency , never a problem with a 320* duration cam , as for manifold never had a problem with a square bore style open plenum ( we used torquer manifolds with a 1" adaptor) and large open headers ( supercomps ) pressure depression works on both holleys and quadrajets , no depression no air flow , and with a q - jet the motor only gets what it needs .. and with low depression you get a need for volume

    as for actual data time slips are my actual data . when I see a waterbrake dyno go down track then I will believe in dyno figures ....
     
  30. jkeckss
    Joined: Dec 1, 2011
    Posts: 21

    jkeckss
    Member

    I have a pretty mild comp cam, along with the set up I mentioned earlier.. I wanted decent power without a huge gas bill every time I fill.. hence the milder cam and considering the quadrajet.. seems if I can get it tuned properly that might work for me

    Side note: gas here currently is about $4.75 Canadian per gallon ugh
     
    Last edited: Jul 22, 2013

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