I'm wondering what kind of experiences rodders/racers have had with the old Rochester 4 jet carburetors (not Quadrajet, older 60's GM 4 bbl). How do they compare to Carter AFB and Holley? Worth messing with, or trouble?
Good carbs. I've seen several NHRA Super Stockers running in the 9's with the 283/220 and the 327/250 versions. I've got a 409 /340 model that I'd sell, if anyone's interested. Probably about 600 cfm.
I wish I could win over my pos HP all in one, so I could scan my old Packard powered olds motor. 13 1/2 to 1 compression street motor with dual quads. 4 jet rochester's modified in 1959. bored out the venturi's larger ****erflies running all 8 barrels at idle (no primaries and secondaries) man that car could fly......Jim
Do you know of any place I can find reference materials that would describe the different model numbers?
I'm thinking I may buy a reman. 4GC from the parts store. What model/year/engine should I specify to the counter guy to get something in the 600 cfm range? 500 cfm?
The first 4GCs were in the 375-400cfm range, and the 283-327 versions were more like 450cfm. 340hp 409s, 401/425 Buicks, and 394 Olds carbs probably flowed the most.
There is one good book on hotrodding early Rochesters, Doug Roe's "Rochester Carburetors", BUT you have to find the 1975 or so edition. The book is still available, but the 4G and 2 barrel info is mostly gone from the newr edition.
Just a word of caution about buying a remanufactured carb. Be sure you know who remanufactured it, not just the store you're buying it from. I do a lot of carb jobs at work and have found that a LOT of remanufactured carbs are junk. Number 1, if a person has worked on a carb and can't fix it what better way of getting something for it than turn it in as a core on another carb. It doesn't matter if the genius that worked on it has drilled every air bleed on it or ???????. And the folks that rebuild them don't check any of this, they just run it through the "***embly process". Number 2, I've seen more than one remanufactured carb that wasn't put together right or was still full of gl*** beads from their cleaning process. Just know what your buying before you get it.
Good advice. They're not difficult to rebuild; if it were me, I'd pick up some decent looking used carbs at a swap meet and do them myself. At least you'll know what you've got when you're done.
There are real horrors out there... I barely remember the details, but years ago I was having troubles with a tiny little linkage system that I think tied into the metering rod or something in a Monojet--the holes in the rocker part were so wallowed out the links couldn't stay in, the bits were discontinued new, all the junkers I could find were worse than mine...so I got the idea of ordering a rebuilt and getting nice new linkage. Took the lump out of the box--and they had simply left that stuff off of the rebuilt carb entirely. I think the useless hulk is still somewhere in the back of the ba*****t serving as a dormitory for spiders.
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