They're good carbs, they just don't look "hotrod". About the only problems they have are that the metering rods stick sometimes and the mainwell plugs sometimes leak. Both are pretty easy to fix. It used to be kind of hard to find jets, metering rods and metering rod springs to tune them, but I think Edelbrock has all of that stuff now. If you don't think they run, watch some of the Super Stockers that use them. Larry T
Hey.. From a personal point of view.. Q-Jets are the ugly'st carb know to mankind Howzever.. I am run'n two on a tunnel ram 455 powered 31 Ford Do a GOOD rebuild.. or there is a guy that does Q-Jets for a lot of race cars "Cliff".. I recommend him for a modified version 3 yrs with Q-jets... no issues at all Pontiac Slim
They seem like they were developed my MOPAR. They work good IF tuned JUST right. But they are a bitch to tune and have a bunch of extra parts on em.
The funny thing about q-jets is that everyone you talk to either loves them to death or hates them with a passion. Being a fan of the Buicks, I can tell you that most of the hardcore Buick guys run q-jets. I can also tell you that the best Buick nailhead intake is the q-jet intake. Supposedly flows more better than the dual quad. And you can buy the squarebore (carter) intake (which is the most common)for like 20 bucks, while I've seen guys pay 3 or 4 bills for the spreadbore (q-jet) intake. I paid $275 for mine, not that there aren't still deals to be found on them, as you can always find a guy at the swapmeet who doesn't know what he's got. One man's trash is another man's treasure. I'm actually glad you brought this subject up, as I was going to post an inquiry to see if anyone has used a Jet(tm) q-jet, and get their feedback. Anyone? http://www.jegs.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ProductDisplay?prrfnbr=4767&prmenbr=361
Oldcarpilot pretty much summed it up. If you use a quadrajet, this book will be most helpful. A good tuner can make them perfect. Most of this book is dedicated to the quadrajet for performance tuning. Mutt
Get ahold of Cliff Ruggles at ruggles@ecr.net He builds a lot of custom-calibrated Q-jets for both street and race. Small shop, very busy so you'll have to be patient. He tests every carb he sells on his own car. He runs a 'smogger' '77 800 Q-jet off of a 350 Pontiac on his 455-powered Ventura (Nova 'clone'). Easily runs in the mid-11s using a cast-iron Pontiac intake, drives it daily. Ran a specially prepared 850 Holley on his car (prepped by a fellow carb expert who is a Holley guru) and the performance was identical, with a loss of 2 to 3 MPG with the Holley. Q-jets aren't pretty like a Holley or Carter AFB. But for street and moderate race applications the Q-jet can't be beat for power and fuel economy. I had one done-up by Cliff recently for a street Pontiac 400, it will be replacing a nice '66 Tri-Power setup so I can get better performance and mileage. Decent mileage and excellent power and throttle response, a good thing.
BTW, most of your intermediate size GM Musclecars (SS396, GTO, Grand Sports, and 442s) ran Quadrajets. Not many other carbs will stand the hair up on the back of your neck like A Quadrajet with the secondaries coming in with a low restriction air cleaner or no air cleaner at all. Larry T
Hey.. Thats the "Cliff" I mentioned. Been yap'n with him for couple of weeks about build'n two all out Q-Jets for the coupe..How'd you like doing business with him? I've heard nothing but great things about his work.. Pontiac Slim
They do have a few problems,not hard to work on once you learn a few tricks.I ran one on a 500 Caddy in a 86 Ford 1/2 ton,pretty fair mileage and plenty of go for a 5000 lb truck..Going to try to use one on a 460 Ford. Jerry
Couldn't be happier with the way he treated me. He kept the lines of communication open via email. I knew that I would have to wait a few months due to his backlog at the time, so I ordered early. You have to be patient with guys who specialize in this kind of thing, not many carb shops know this type of carb as well as Cliff. I sent my own '77 350 core, the best quality castings are '75 and later 800-cfm units. If you don't have a core Cliff has a pile of 'em handy. Had him do up an HEI distributor (recurved for my combo) at the same time. I can't wait to get that carb on my new street 400 motor with Edelbrock heads/RPM intake...........
A guy once made a bet with me that we could go to his junkyard and get a Quadrajet off an old junker and it would work better than the Holley I was having trouble with at the time. Its still on my RPU.
Hey thanks for the heads up! Your comments go along with all I've heard about the guy and his work. If all goes well I'm gonna call him tomorrow, If we come up with something my plan is to give him the winter months..as I'm in no rush... Anyway thanks again Pontiac Slim www.badlandscoupe.com Po
well my buddy is talkin me into puttin' one on my 390, he runs one on his 400 pontiac in his '33 plymouth 5 window. he's quite the genius with these and i am thinkin i might just let him at it. however, the opinions are o'plenty when i mention the q-jet. just curious what the hamb'ers thought. thanks for the feedback! chris
I like the Qjet because you can get them for free or $5 and put a kit in them and 2 out of 3 of them will work good. Trick is to only get ones that have the original finish, meaning that they have NOT been to the rebuild factory.
Yep, definitely avoid the remanufactured ones. Find a good core for your rebuild, the throttle shaft bushings usually need to be replaced and you can get a kit for that from Cliff Ruggles.
I love Q-jets! Look at NHRA Stock and Super Stock cars. 9-10-11-12 secound cars with Q-jets! No doubt of the Performance in 'em.
The only real drawback is the small fuel bowl, and most people who don't like them just don't know how to work on carbs. Dam things are simple if you know a couple tricks to get them apart. The leaking well plugs was a myth that got blown out of proportion. The real problem of the bowl leaking out was fixed with a little check valve in the fuel filter. The well plugs can seap but it isn't near as common as once thought. I have rebuilt probably 100 Q-jets with 100% success rate and NEVER epoxied well plugs. All for stock use though, I do not pretend to be a tuner with any experience modifying them.
Run the quad. Most people think you can only get performance out of a Holley. Quads can run just as good if not better.
Not to mention the warping. The base, air horn, and main body are prone to warping. There are services and devices to unwarp them but..... I'm debating whether to try and unwarp this thing or rebuild my Holley.
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