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Help Us Find a Q-Jet for Fellow Forum Member - Carb Stolen
One of our Forum Members, Troy, sent me his original 1980 Vette Q-Jet for rebuild, setup and test. His carb needed a little work and tweaking, and it ended up running really sweet on the test engine. So the carb was boxed up and mailed back to him.
The mailman left the carb box on his doorstep, but before Troy got home to collect his fresh carb, somebody stole the package off his doorstep. This leaves Troy with a dead Corvette and a missing carb.
If we can come up with a suitable, rebuildable carb for Troy, I'll donate my labor and do the rebuild and setup at cost so we can save his car. We'll pay fair market value, of course, for a good, rebuildable carb.
So dig through your basements and garages and see if you can come up with something to help out. Here's what we need:
His car is a 1980, so an '80 carb would be the best option. Lacking that, I can set up a good carb for him with any 1976 - 1980 Chevy passenger car Q-Jet (no truck carbs). The carb cannot be a commercially rebuilt carb, and should be an original, used carb in dirty, rebuildable condition with most parts intact.
Drop me an e-mail if you have something that might be usable. You can send a photo, but keep the photo size at about 64K: I'm on dial-up, so I can't open e-mails larger that 200K total size.
Troy can really use some help with this, and I know we can come up with a way to get his Vette running again!
Ya know that was on the news just a few days ago. They had video of a woman (definitely not a lady) show up like minutes after UPS dropped a box - picked it up and drove off. Our society moves closer to gated communities every day - for those that can pay for it.
I think everyone on this forum owes u lars and would like to help. I need a few days to look in my storage as im on 12hr shifts now. But i will see what can find and i expect i have something close. Electric choke right?
I think I have a 17080204. Pretty sure it's from my "never rebuilt" collection.
Yup, I do. Let me know if this works and if you need pictures. As you know, it's for a 80 L-48 auto.
If it's anything like the last one I rebuilt from this collection, the castings will be in excellent shape, but the linkages may need some attention. I just rebuilt a 17059216 from this group, still had the original idle mixture plugs on it. The air doors needed some descaling and the throttle shafts needed rebushing, but it ended up working excellent and looking GREAT!
Boy that really sucks having a boxed carb stolen. I'd bet that the thieves don't even know what they have. It's a great thing to have the members come together to help this fellow Corvette owner.
Yup, I do. Let me know if this works and if you need pictures. As you know, it's for a 80 L-48 auto.
If it's anything like the last one I rebuilt from this collection, the castings will be in excellent shape, but the linkages may need some attention. I just rebuilt a 17059216 from this group, still had the original idle mixture plugs on it. The air doors needed some descaling and the throttle shafts needed rebushing, but it ended up working excellent and looking GREAT!
That's the same number as his stolen carb, so it would be a "numbers-matching" setup for him. It couldn't get any more perfect. Would you drop me an e-mail and let me know what we can do to compensate you for that? As long as the castings are reasonably good, I can make it work just great. Thank you, thank you!!
I've got one and the numbers on it are 7042237, looks like it's a bit too old. Lars if you can make it work for his application you're welcome to it.
Thank you for the generous offer and stepping up to the plate to help out! The 7042237 is a divorced-choke 472 and 500 cubic inch Cadillac carb (3rd style), and it looks a lot like a Chevy carb. It wouldn't work on Troy's '80 since he needs an integral-choke carb, but I'll bet there is somebody over on the Cadillac Forum that is dying for that carb..!
That's the same number as his stolen carb, so it would be a "numbers-matching" setup for him. It couldn't get any more perfect. Would you drop me an e-mail and let me know what we can do to compensate you for that? As long as the castings are reasonably good, I can make it work just great. Thank you, thank you!!
Lars - you've got mail. I did a quick eval of the carb as well.
Anyone who doesn't think this Forum and the people here are amazing, is clueless... Steve just found a decent, rebuildable numbers-matching carb for Troy, and will be sending it out to me tomorrow. I'll set the carb up and test it, and get Troy a "correct" carb back on his car within a week.
I'll post a follow-up thread so everyone can see how we made out. Thanks to everyone who offered assistance and carb contributions - it's very impressive to see this type of enthusiasm to help out other Vette owners. Thanks!!
If the carb you have found doesnt work out.
I have #12 from the old carb loaner program you used to have.
If it would be useful I will send it to you.
The only carb that ran better on my car is the correct one you rebuilt for me.
Thank you for taking care of those who want a great running Qjet.
I almost forgot about "Old #12"...! Does it still have the ID tag hanging off the rear corner..? That carb made quite the rounds throughout the North American Continent as one of the most popular Loaner Carbs when I had that program going. I doubt there is another carb in the world that has been installed and run on more different cars than #12! Very kind of you to offer to send it back and put it back in use, but I'm hoping this carb from Steve is going to do the trick..
Hey guys...this is Troy. I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has helped out through this unfortunate situation. As Lars said, I sent my original 1980 carb off to him a few weeks ago. After hearing how well my rebuild turned out I was really excited get it home and take it out of the box. My 80 Vette is my daily driver so I couldn't wait to get it running again.
Unfortunately you can't even trust your own neighbors these days. I posted flyers all around the apartment complex asking for my package to be returned. I filed a police report and a USPS stolen mail claim with the Office of Inspector General.
I will NEVER have another package delivered to my apartment again. They're all going to my work from now on.
I just want to get my story out there to spread awareness for other people who live in apartments. But most of all, I want to thank Lars for everything he has done to get me back on the road. Just when you think you have the worst luck in the world, people like Lars and Steve show how great our Corvette community is when someone needs help.
I know the carb I sent you pics of looks rough, but it'll clean up real nice, especially with Lars at the helm.
This is another carb from the same set, didn't look much better to start with. We cleaned it up, but sandblasted all the steel bits (air divider, air doors, choke plate, throttle links). Throttle linkage was painted in these pics with Dupli-Color "GOLD" paint.
It still has the #12 tag.
That is the only number I could read with out digging it out of its retirement home.
I figured that #12 would be enough information for you to determine if it was a proper candidate for a 80.
I have to warn you that it has been rebuilt by a quasi commercial re builder / gastro pub in Colorado.
I know the carb I sent you pics of looks rough, but it'll clean up real nice, especially with Lars at the helm.
This is another carb from the same set, didn't look much better to start with. We cleaned it up, but sandblasted all the steel bits (air divider, air doors, choke plate, throttle links). Throttle linkage was painted in these pics with Dupli-Color "GOLD" paint.
Steve, very nice of you to step up and help a fellow forum member.
Hey, that looks like a photo of a Chevy 496 BB...I can somehow sense the bore & stroke on that bad boy.
UPDATE: Today Lars disassembled and cleaned up the carb that Shark Racer sent him for my car. He'll be testing it on his engine soon.
Over on my end today, I installed a new fuel pump, the two rubber hoses for the pump and also the metal fuel line that goes from the pump to the carb. My old hoses were worn and the fuel line was "fabricated" to where the previous owner used 2 inches of rubber hose to tie into the carb from the line since the line was cut.
I also put in new valve cover gaskets and cleaned up the engine bay a bit while I wait for the new rebuilt carb from Lars. I still need to put in new radiator seals and do some more cleaning. When I get the new carb I'm also putting in all new emissions hoses that I got from Doc Rebuild.
09-27-2014, 08:49 PM
Help Us Find a Q-Jet for Fellow Forum Member - Carb Stolen
Ditto for me, just made sense to do it at the same time......and I also used the services of the good "Dr"......quite the character.