Woah, didn't mean to start a war here guys. It was free, and has a chance of working out for me (rebuilt or otherwise), so yes, that's a score. My current carb is pretty messed up. The choke is stuck, among other things. The stove pipe snapped at the exhaust manifold, and I don't want to mess with making a new one, so I'm looking for a carb with an electric choke. This carb has one. If I can make it work, that's great. I'm not too concerned with performance. It's backed by a Dynaflow, don't forget. It is actually very clean inside and out. The lighting is terrible in the pics and really don't do it justice. There's no grime or buildup to speak of. Am I correct in saying that my manifold has the square bore layout and this carb has the spread bore? From what I gather, the Edelbrock 1406 has a square bore, but I know it needs an adapter for my manifold. I'm just trying to figure out exactly what kind of adapter I need and whether or not it will work for both carbs (Edelbrock and Q-jet).
Nothing wrong with that q-jet. I use them a fair bit. The well plugs don't have a leaking problem on the 1975 and later carbs so that won't be an issue. The later units like that one also have an APT circuit in them to allow you to adjust your part-throttle mixture. They're more tuneable than the early carbs. That one should be a 750 CFM unit if it's off a 305. There are 800 cfm units but I doubt you will need them. Q-jets are spreadbore carbs but a manifold adapter will solve your problem. If you want any more info, just PM me. Shawn
Correct. The Q-Jet, Thermoquad, and spread bore Holleys used a spread bore bolt pattern. There are the Spectre 5775 adapters([FONT="Times New Roman", Times, serif]5775 Spectre quadrajet to square bore Edelbrock Holley carb adapter kit) [/FONT]like the one carcrazyjohn has. If you go this route try to get a newer casting. The older Spectre units had a gawdawful casting lip on them, it appears Spectre now has either improved their casting or has machined the holes. The 'performance section' of the local Vato-Zone or ORLYs usually has these in stock. I'm not familiar with the Nailhead. I'm fairly sure the later 401/425s from ~65/'66 could be had with a Q-Jet. I just don't know if that intake will work on your 322ci. The Q jet gets a bad rap due to lack of understanding. It is more complicated and a bit of a PITA to get the air bleeds and linkages mounted up and through the air horn, than it is to tear down a simple Holley. But the Q-jet is able to give great gas mileage and still flow 750CFM. The 'smog-era' Q-jets have an aneroid(barometer) assembly on the '75-'82(?) non CCC carbs. Allowing you to go from Tahoe to Vegas without having to readjust the carb manually. http://www.oldcarmanualproject.com/manuals/Carbs/Rochester/QJet/index.htm The tuning books by Roe and Ruggles are great primers. http://quadrajetparts.com/books-c-51.html Joe hangs out on the Oldsmobile boards, hell he probably hangs out here too.
This is a good carb to start off with but wouldn't be my first choice because of the rear choke pull off. It controls the secondaries and the front mounted ones are better for performance,but it does have an electric choke which is a plus. I would definitely rebuild it with a new float,if you need help pm me.
THIS is who you need to speak to. http://www.cliffshighperformance.com/ Cliff is THE Q-Jet man. Those are fine carburetors, and like any other, if you don't know what the hell you're doing with/to it it won't work worth a damn.You'll be very satisfied with that Q-Jet, once Cliff sets it up...
The Quadrajet is a WONDERFUL street carburetor HOWEVER: (1) Getting an adapter to fit your manifold may be impossible. If you find an adapter, place the "square-bore" side of the adapter on your manifold, and make certain the plenum is covered and there are no leaks. (2) Running an 800 CFM spread-bore through a spread-bore to square-bore adapter will REDUCE THE EFFECTIVE SIZE OF THE SPREAD-BORE TO LESS THAN THE ORIGINAL CARBURETOR! Running through the adapter and the original manifold will reduce the 800 to approximately 325~350. (3) Should you find an adapter, and don't care about the reduction in performance, you will find the Buick Q-Jets and Chevrolet Q-Jets used totally different air-bleeds. Buy the book on Q-Jets by Cliff Ruggles, and prepare to modify this carburetor. (4) The later electric chokes are designed to go off at a "timed" interval, rather than an "engine temperature" interval. Generally speaking, if you live in an area that needs a choke; this probably will give you issues with the older automatic transmissions. If you live in Miami, San Diego, or Honolulu, disregard this statement. And should you disregard all of the above, TRY IT. Knowledge acquired first hand is always worth more than knowledge from a book (or the internet). However, sometimes it is more expensive. Jon.
Pitt - thanks for the vote of confidence. However: The original poster's profile shows a 1956 Buick. The original intake used on the 1956 Buick has the older 3 3/4 by 3 7/8 bolt pattern rather than the 1957 and newer rectangular 4 1/2 by 6 bolt pattern. The original carbs used were either the Rochester 4-GC or the Carter WCFB. While I don't use adapters, so am no expert on them, I have not seen a direct spread-bore to the early 3 3/4 by 3 7/8 square-bore. If one does not exist, then the OP will have to acquire an adapter from the 3 3/4 by 3 7/8 to the newer 4 1/2 by 6; THEN acquire the fairly common spread-bore 4 1/2 by 6 to square-bore 4 1/2 by 6. So now we have two adapters and three gaskets to worry about sealing. PLUS we have added significant plenum volume below the throttle plates which, while beneficial to a "modified" engine will reduce low end driveability on a basically stock engine. I would suggest trying to determine if the existing carburetor is actually an issue or is being blamed for an ignition or vacuum leak problem; and if the existing carb is as issue......fix it! Jon.
I stopped fucking around with Q-Jets a long time ago and have them done by a good local carb shop. I also like the electric choke function, I think those were 1980 and up? So you might get it done for $175 and another $50 in adapter, gaskets and various items. Bob
If it fits your motor....buy Cliff Ruggles book and read it. A qjet is more of a diy than bolting on an eldebrock, but they're great carbs for economy and performance. Buy your rebuild kit from Cliff, and feel free to call if you screw something up. He will return your phone calls and bail you out.
Zman - If the OP does in fact have the 1956 intake with the older small "square" bolt pattern, then no, there is no small AFB that will fit directly. Of course he would be able to acquire the small square pattern to rectangular square-bore pattern and then use an AFB. However, the closely spaced throttle holes on the old manifold would still reduce the effectiveness of the more widely spaced AFB. Absolutely nothing wrong with using either the original Rochester 4-GC or the comparable Carter WCFB with this manifold. Not a Buick expert, so do not know if a later 364 manifold would fit the 322 engine heads; but if so, a later manifold would open many possibilities not feasible with the 1956 manifold. Jon.
the 364 manifold doesn't quite line up, so no. I'd mill the hell out of the manifold before putting the adapter on to minimize the loss though.
I just rebuilt a Qjet for a customers '77 Chevy van that failed smog. Turns out that the guy is running a 400 engine with a "RV" cam and 10:1 heads. I thought I was in over my head on this one, but I realized that it was running lean. So I removed the carb, stripped 'er down, found size 64 jets and 40 rods in it. It took a couple of tries, swapped jets and rods, but I finally settled on 69 jets, 40 rods. Results: The van really woke up, passed smog, the owner is happy, I put some money in my pocket, and I met CHP officer Cunningham on my test drive while I was making sure the secondaries were working. Note that my customer had fought this thing running poorly, stalling, bad mileage, for years because people told him Qjets can't be repaired, too complicated, etc. Take that carb apart, clean it, put the new stuff in it and see how you do. You're going to feel pretty good when you realize YOU CAN DO IT! As for adapting to your manifold, check Carbking's post.
Mr Gasket sells an adapter for it. Don't know if it was any good when it was parked but I do know that GM didn't make a 327 in 81. Look real close and make sure it doesn't have a pigtail for a solenoid anywhere. It was in that time frame that GM went to the electric modulated quadrajunk, maybe they didn't start that until about 84. Kits for them are cheap certainly way less than the price of a 500 cfm edelbrock. A good quadra jet (it that an oxy-moron?) is a good carb and one that doesn't work isn't worth a damn. There is no in between on them. But for the price I would give it a whirl and if it didn't work rebuild it. If it still doesn't work you're already adapted you can always find another quadrajet.
Who said anything about "balls to the wall? "Performance" takes in a LOT of territory, including fuel economy, crisp off idle throttle response and low end torque and that's where the Q-Jets have it all over the Holley carbs. The M4ME is one of the most tuneable of the QuadraJets and it's been my experience that it's no harder than the early ones, you just need a different collection of jets and rods because they are slightly different. My Stude would have had one on it but I don't like spreadbore to squarebore adapters. I tried an Edelbrock 500 on it but got tired of the float bowls going dry if it sat more than 72 hours without being started. I have a 390 Holley 4 Bbl. on it now and it works pretty good but I haven't had a chance to really dial it in yet. At least I can go out after not starting it for a few weeks and it still has fuel in the bowls!
ShowCars in MN. ( 348-409) stuff ) sells a real nice Squarebore to WCFB/4GC pattern adapter that makes a pretty smooth transition between throttle bores. I used one when mounting an Edelbrock 500 on my '55 Stude, I kept it when I replaced the 500 with a 390 Holley. It's still an adpater but it's the nicest one I've come across. They are quite proud of it however. IIRC mine was about $30 but I'd pay it again. Now, getting from the spreadbore to squarebore...... that sucks no matter what you do.
You can get Q-jet jets & metering rods from Edelbrock now. EASY to find. The only way I would replace that with an Edelbrock AFB is if you want worse mileage and performance.
Chevrolets, right from their first four barrel in 1955, used carburetors with a larger bolt pattern than the '56 Buick in question. While it's true that both Buick and Chevrolet used Rochester 4GCs and Carter WCFBs, the Buick carbs (along with early Olds and Cadillac V8s) used one with a smaller, almost square bolt pattern.
As long as the stud holes on the original carb wouldn't interfere with the later throttle bores there's no law against drilling new bolt holes in the adapter and the ShowCars piece is made of the same type of cast aluminum as an intake manifold not pot metal like most. It is a solid flat plate , besides it's the transition of the throttle bores that's critical not who put the bolt holes in it.
quadrajet is one of the best carbs out there very tune-able everything from needle and seat, jets and secondary needles and hangers there are some problems that can be corrected easily -parts are cheap and are easy to work on i've used them in drag, oval and street cars
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