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What you guy's think? I bought my '79 L48 auto with 100K miles with the dreaded re-manufactured Q-jet. At the time I thought "good!" fairly new seals and it seems to operate relatively fine except for the choke needing some fiddling. Now after reading here reman can be vary bad. It's off right now as I've put a edlebrock 2101 on. I've been reading Cliff's book and Lars's stuff on here too and I must admit I'm a little afraid of what I'll find if opened up. I did have it turned over and some dark, nasty fuel came out of it. Any suggestions? Is it possible I got a descent one?
Carb #17059222 0749 cbs. The motor is pretty stock right now.
I'm a rookie, but I don't think I'd spend a minute of time on the carb until I made sure some dark, nasty fuel didn't come out of the supply line from the gas tank (been there). A new carb will turn into an old one fast if the tank and fuel lines are corroded/have gunk/bad gas in them.
"Bite the bullet" and check the above....let us know how it looks....then open the carb like this.......
I had to rebuild it with a $35 kit....AFTER I dropped the tank when I found crud in the fuel when I removed the fuel sending unit to replace the disintergrated sock filter. Now there is nice, clean fuel going through a new supply line to a new inline fuel filter through a flushed-out fuel pump into a new carb inlet filter into unclogged ports......the engine now idles like new and revs/cruises perfectly.
Last edited by doorgunner; 04-01-2015 at 11:40 AM.
It's the Luck of the Draw. Wait and see how the motor runs. That will answer most of your questions.
I agree - The choke is easy to set up, if that is the only issue.
Reman'ed QJets arent offically 100% bad - but they can be very much luck of the draw. I bought a Jet Perf. one, and the throttle blades would stick open. I took it back and got a replacement right away - and has had no issues whatsoever.
So good or bad carb really is dumb luck, and probably largely depends on the specific guy rebuilding it. IMO that is where the risk comes in.
So before spending money needlessly, I would first check it out on a running engine.
I'm aware of this not being a "numbers" carb. What would it take to make it function right? Or how can I tell if it is? I want to keep it as I plan on modifying/rebuilding the engine and I think this will keep up once it's right.
I'm aware of this not being a "numbers" carb. What would it take to make it function right? Or how can I tell if it is? I want to keep it as I plan on modifying/rebuilding the engine and I think this will keep up once it's right.
Size the air bleeds(and any other metering orifice), check the power piston spring for operation, look for any cutting or grinding marks and try to identify the reason as to what they are there for. Check for warping of the various mounting surfaces.
What you'll need to do depends on examination - there's a lot of stuff here.
It sounds like it needs to come apart, measure stuff and take notes (like school). Can that list be used to see what rods, jets and the like need to be in there? I assume that they can be installed once obtained since it is the same year. This is great, I'm getting some direction here. This is the only forum I use. I appreciate the responses! Driving season starts for me in May.
Make all adjustment to carb linkages, etc and to the choke mechanism. Then test to see how it works. If you still have problems, disassemble and inspect; then rebuild it.
I bought a car that came with the Qjet in a box with the original manifold along with a rebuild kit... apparently it was too complicated for the PO as he threw a new performer intake and carb on it. I had a lot of issues with rust and sediment making its way into the new edelbrock carb which I finally cleared up by removing the fancy billet filter and installing a paper fuel filter at the carb intake which ironically works much better)..
I now picked up a bigger carb for my new engine I built and recently installed since I felt the 600cfm edelbrock may have been the limiting factor at this point.
Later today actually I'll be rebuilding and installing a holley 670 street avenger I picked up used but the thought did cross my mind to reinstall the qjet... The main issue being it was a spreadbore and honestly I like to do everything myself. There is just way more info and youtube videos on holleys than the Qjet. Still I think the qjet may be superior in design for what it does. the more I read about the edelbrock weber carter clones the more im convinced their performance is marginal compared to other choices but they are simple and great for people who like simple. and they will work fine in many applications.. I just cant keep wondering if im missing out on power since I have better flowing heads,intake and headers/exhaust now.
What you guy's think? I bought my '79 L48 auto with 100K miles with the dreaded re-manufactured Q-jet. At the time I thought "good!" fairly new seals and it seems to operate relatively fine except for the choke needing some fiddling. Now after reading here reman can be vary bad. It's off right now as I've put a edlebrock 2101 on. I've been reading Cliff's book and Lars's stuff on here too and I must admit I'm a little afraid of what I'll find if opened up. I did have it turned over and some dark, nasty fuel came out of it. Any suggestions? Is it possible I got a descent one?
Carb #17059222 0749 cbs. The motor is pretty stock right now.
Thanks, Bob
I'm actually surprised that someone hasn't recommended you send it to Lars already.
That is the normal response to Q junk issues here.
I find it kind of funny that considering replacing and junking it is even being discussed... The carb hasnt even shown any signs of problems despite the evidence that the fuel delivery system needs to be flushed and is pumping crap into the carb... your new edelbrock or holley will fail just as quickly when your pumping this crap into it... I say fix the real issue before creating more for yourself.
BTW Just because someone (or even a dozen) state they got a bad reman doesnt mean they are all garbage... Especially if its working fine ??
Many here kept telling me its more cost effective to spend 5-8k on a crate engine than building my own but $1,600 and 800 miles later im happy to say I have proved them wrong and learned a lot about my car in the process... its not always a black and white clear situation.we are all different and or situations are different.
Commander obviously has some biased personal vendetta against the oem carb as many people do about the c3 corvette in general.. (likely from a bad experience he had with one?) They are both kind of a love it or hate it kind of thing..
People are entitled to thier opinions but they are not always correct in every situation. if it was we would all be driving the same car.
Last edited by augiedoggy; 04-03-2015 at 09:28 AM.
Well I took the bull by the horns and opened it up. I just couldn't believe that the car ran as well as it did with crappie fuel in it. Turns out there's a small "pocket" on either side of the reservoir. Fuel must have collected in there some how and sat I until I tipped it over. So far, I only have the top off, but I think I may have gotten lucky. It looks fairly clean inside (except for side areas), it even has a blue accelerator pump! Only bad things I've found so far are 2 bent pieces of linkage and a bent accelerator pump arm. Will update you guys as I go.
Bob
I agree, augiedoggy, I'm not giving up on a carb becau$e it's not adju$ted right. Especially if I had no real problem with it. If I was going to throw money at the it, I would go TPI.
My plan now is to figure out what orifices are what size.
Turns out there's a small "pocket" on either side of the reservoir. Fuel must have collected in there some how and sat I until I tipped it over.
Bob -
Not all remanufactured carbs are bad, and the bad reman carbs are not limited to Q-Jets: I get reman Holleys that are so bad that they actually can't be saved. What I tell people is to "beware" of the remanufactured carbs (regardless of the carb brand), and I tell people that it's a "crapshoot" with the reman stuff. "Do you feel lucky..?"
Sounds like you may have gotten your hands on one that's usable - that's great. But I would be concerned about the standing fuel in the "pockets" in the sides: Those pockets are air pockets, and they're supposed to have holes in the bottom to allow the idle bypass air to go through. A common reman rebuild "trick" is to plug the air bleed holes in the bottom of those pockets with lead plugs, eliminating all of the idle air bypass: This bypass acts like the hot-rod trick of drilling the throttle plates on a Holley. By plugging the holes, your idle system is not working as it should. So inspect those casting pockets and see if there are plugs in the idle air holes - you can't set the carb up right if the idle airflow is whacked out.
04-01-2015, 10:58 AM
Reman'd Q-jet. leave it or open a can of worms?
