1981 qaudrajet identification
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1981 qaudrajet identification
I own a 1981 corvette automatic and have owned the vehicle around 18 years most of which it has been in storage. It has the correct gm manifold but an Edelbrock carb and i am trying to determine the correct original carb part number i need to replace it. I show 2 part numbers for that year for an automatic 17081218 which is labeled California and 1708228 . How can i determine the correct carb for my vehicle ? What is the difference between the two as i have located a California carb .but have no idea what state my vehicle was originally sold in . I did check the vin and it was manufactured out of St Louis but thats as far as ive got.
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you do not want an original carb for that car. that is the CCC e4me setup. CCC stands for "crappy computer control" it has a primitive ecm that tries to regulate idle and light-load fuel mixture and ignition curve for emissions. it requires a non-vacuum and non-centrifugal distributor that is also controlled by the ecm. most likely the distributor now has a vacuum advance and centrifugal weights and the ecm is probably either unhooked or gone completely. you want a 80 or earlier q-jet. ok, says you have correct intake. so you have an adapter under the carb? they don't work very well. do you still have the exhaust with cat converter and oxy sensor installed? do you live in a state-locality that does emissions inspections on 81 cars?
Last edited by derekderek; Nov 21, 2022 at 04:10 PM.
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the distributor does not have any vacumm lines i assume they left the original distributor in ... so either I need to go to a 1980 distributor ? for vacuum advance or original . i will need to check on cat .. I live in oklahoma so emissions are pretty relaxed .. No inspections.
Last edited by bw81; Nov 21, 2022 at 04:18 PM.
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best bet would be to start with a 75-80 HEI distributor. 35 to 350 bucks depending on where you get it. get it timed correctly and see what you have. with no advance it runs like crap and gets horrible mileage. now, first. 18 years of storage. make sure it stops before you do anything about go. replace the 4 rubber brake lines. pull the pads and clean up the rotors and bleed the brakes. pads and rotors are probably not worn out but need 18 years of neglect cleaned off of them. you frequently get caliper leaks after sitting. they sometimes re-seal after bleeding and pushing the pistons in with a c clamp and out with brake pressure. caliper rebuilds are inexpensive if leaks persist. do not remove the rotors from the hubs without match marking them.
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Thanks for the help everyone ... Going to prep engine and rotate a few times and hopefully fire it soon .. Ive already removed the old fuel and do plan to rebuild the calipers and replace master and brakelines . .. Then decide on direction .. Need to look at exhaust i assume it must still be using computer if its still firing the old distributor ? .. I will look for thread on subject ...
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ok thx .. I need to look it over and see how complete the vehicle is one way or another then decide .. Im not sure yet if im keeping it and going for an earlier year .. So alot depends if im going to sell or not .. I never really took to it as i had a 74 before this one .. But i see it had to be performing poorly with original distributor .. I put less than 50 miles on it in 18 years ... I assume u would sell the carb ?
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you do not want an original carb for that car. that is the CCC e4me setup. CCC stands for "crappy computer control" it has a primitive ecm that tries to regulate idle and light-load fuel mixture and ignition curve for emissions. it requires a non-vacuum and non-centrifugal distributor that is also controlled by the ecm. most likely the distributor now has a vacuum advance and centrifugal weights and the ecm is probably either unhooked or gone completely. you want a 80 or earlier q-jet. ok, says you have correct intake. so you have an adapter under the carb? they don't work very well. do you still have the exhaust with cat converter and oxy sensor installed? do you live in a state-locality that does emissions inspections on 81 cars?
Looks like still has the old exhaust .. O2 sensor has fallen out and hanging by its wires under car ... Anyone tell me what that little electrical connection is above the oil filter ?
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That is the sender for the oil temp gauge. You should have an oil pressure gauge and an oil temp gauge if you had the factory ETR radio. If you had the analog radio, you would have had a clock in place of the oil temp gauge.
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no, the ignition was not working correctly. it worked, but at a default advance. open up the storage bins behind the seats. i think the ecm is in the same compartment as the battery. do you have any check engine lights? the ecm needs to see the engine vacuum (MAP), throttle position fom carb and rpms to control advance. and it needs O2 signal to also control the fuel mixture. if any of these signals are missing or way off it goes to minimum advance and full rich. the carb is not there so there is no throttle position signal so the advance can not work correctly. it is a primitive system and previous owner probably didn't replace carb for ha ha's. but he was clueless cuz he didn't also replace the distributor. not terrible setup when it works, but that is a 42 year old ecm. if it is even there at all...
Last edited by derekderek; Nov 21, 2022 at 11:01 PM.
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Can you get it to run with the current carb? If your goal is to sell it, clean it up, make it run, and don't spend money on it. White on red is the best color combo for these cars. 
If your goal is to make it run and enjoy the car, the Forum consensus seems to be that only carb worse than an Edelbrock 1406 is the (one year only) 1981 Q-Jet.
Can you take some pics of of the engine compartment with the air cleaner assembly removed? Are you still using the 81's 7-wire distributor? I'll have a dual-snorkel assembly for sale shortly, if you are hard-pressed to go back to the stock configuration and appearance, but it also works on a proper Q-Jet. There are posts on this Forum that detail how to read the codes off the stock ECM using a paperclip, if it is still controlling anything.
If your goal is to make it run and enjoy the car, the Forum consensus seems to be that only carb worse than an Edelbrock 1406 is the (one year only) 1981 Q-Jet.
Can you take some pics of of the engine compartment with the air cleaner assembly removed? Are you still using the 81's 7-wire distributor? I'll have a dual-snorkel assembly for sale shortly, if you are hard-pressed to go back to the stock configuration and appearance, but it also works on a proper Q-Jet. There are posts on this Forum that detail how to read the codes off the stock ECM using a paperclip, if it is still controlling anything.
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Joined: Nov 2022
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Can you get it to run with the current carb? If your goal is to sell it, clean it up, make it run, and don't spend money on it. White on red is the best color combo for these cars.
If your goal is to make it run and enjoy the car, the Forum consensus seems to be that only carb worse than an Edelbrock 1406 is the (one year only) 1981 Q-Jet.
Can you take some pics of of the engine compartment with the air cleaner assembly removed? Are you still using the 81's 7-wire distributor? I'll have a dual-snorkel assembly for sale shortly, if you are hard-pressed to go back to the stock configuration and appearance, but it also works on a proper Q-Jet. There are posts on this Forum that detail how to read the codes off the stock ECM using a paperclip, if it is still controlling anything.
If your goal is to make it run and enjoy the car, the Forum consensus seems to be that only carb worse than an Edelbrock 1406 is the (one year only) 1981 Q-Jet.
Can you take some pics of of the engine compartment with the air cleaner assembly removed? Are you still using the 81's 7-wire distributor? I'll have a dual-snorkel assembly for sale shortly, if you are hard-pressed to go back to the stock configuration and appearance, but it also works on a proper Q-Jet. There are posts on this Forum that detail how to read the codes off the stock ECM using a paperclip, if it is still controlling anything.
I have the snorkel air cleaner .. Yes it was a running vehicle when parked ..i suspect it will fire up ..as long as electrical is intact .. Other than the valve covers and carb it looks to be mostly original .. Its missing some of the emissions .. Would probably need a wiring harness ... If i decided to go the other route and just put in a 1980 distributor to go with the edlebrock .. What else would i need ? .. Does have the original exhaust .. What is the majority running for carbs if not stock ? Earlier model q-jet ?
Last edited by bw81; Nov 23, 2022 at 07:59 AM.