Ok I am down to 1 car. My baby 79 Vette, auto trans. Carb is bad. Air leak, not even a year on the rebuild. Cannot send out core. Need to get to work. Need a quadrajet now. Saw a holley rebuilt quadrajet on Ebay but I question Holley ranufactured quadrajets. I dont even see them on the Holley site. Possibly new old stock story. Also found mikescarbs.com but I cannot find any customer reviews. He does have one in stock but I l know nothing about this business. All I want is to buy a nice rebuilt quadrajet for my stock car without a core needed. Of course I can send my United garbage carb later for a core but I need a good website to get one now. Confused.. Should I get the Ebay so called new remanufactured Quadrajet by Holley for now?? Please give suggestions. I have no intrest in auto store garbage or Joe Blow rebuilt it carbs.

 

Molly...sounds like you are in a real pickle with that carb situation.

I highly recommend this group. I sent my 78 Pace Car carb that was working like the description you wrote above and it came back perfect! I paid $250 which I thought was extremely reasonable including replating...they also do work for the NCRS types.

I would call and see if they have one for your car. Even if you get an ebay core...I would not trust it until someone went through it. It sounds like you use your vehicle for daily commute which makes it even more of a challenge. Good luck and keep us posted.

All American Carbs

 

Quadrajet and Ebay don't belong in the same sentence. Check other threads on here about Lars or Cliff Ruggles, One of them may be able to help you.

 

where is the air leak from,may just need a carb gasket,check that out first.

 

Are you sure the air leak is from the carb? And what makes you think it's an air leak?

 

Contact Lars, if he can't troubleshoot yours, maybe he can sell you one.

 

I would contact Lars. He's fast and the work is off-the-charts good. And the price is like free money.
Jet will sell you a good replacement right away. A Stage 1 or Stage 2 is not a bad choice.
You can get a new Holley Q-Jet replacement. (not a Q-Jet, but a spreadbore)
You can get a new Street Demon carb. I would probably do this in the short run, if I were in a pinch.

 

My mechanic confirmed the carb was bad. Rpm's all over. I have to adjust daily to keep it runing. Will check jet and all american carb. How do I contact Lars??

 

Lars Grimsrud
v8fastcars@msn.com

He doesn't really sell Q-Jets, he rebuilds your core, but he might know where you can get a rebuildable core. I picked up a core from a local vette restorer.

 

Craigslist is full of them...

 

where are you located? someone may have a core close to you.

 

[QUOTE=Molly Issa;1587534994]My mechanic confirmed the carb was bad. Rpm's all over. I have to adjust daily to keep it runing. Will check jet and all american carb. How do I contact

I used a company in Largo, Florida.
Guaranteed Carburetors
7939 Ulmerton Road
Largo, Florida 33771
800-250-8746

I sent them my Q-Jet off 1969 427-390
Their motto is-- Install and Drive.
That is what I did.
Looked better than new
Great Work

 

Here's my thoughts-

I was in a similar situation. I was preparing for the Hot Rod Power Tour a few months ago- the 73 would be my only mode of transportation (other than a Greyhound Bus!) and would end up almost 1000 miles from home. I drove a total of 2900 miles in that one week

The quad had been rebuilt-but was running rich. I pulled the filter and the fitting was stripped out...What to do? This was a couple days before I was going to leave.

I looked all over for a carb- even looked at a kit ($70) to re-thread the fuel filter fitting. I just didn't feel comfortable w/ all the junk out there.

So- I read some reviews and ordered a Street Demon 1900 from Summit Racing for a little over $300- a few bucks more than their reman quads.

It was sitting on my doorstep the next day- bolted it on and it performed flawlessly for almost the 3500 miles I have put on the car since. Averaged about 15 mpg w/ 3.55 gears and a m-21 4 speed. Starts the first turn -every time- idles perfectly.

My thoughts were to get the carb rebuilt- but why? I am not having the car judged - I am driving it- what these cars were built for!!!

The old quad is still sitting in the Demon box....

Richard

 

I have had a Holley 4175 650 CFM vaccum secondary Q jet replacement on my 78 L-82 since 1985 and the carb has been simply bullet proof. Reliable, great power, runs and idles great, same gas mileage as the Qjet. I just totally rebuilt the L-82 and upgraded to AFR heads and roller cam and all i did to the carb was replace the main jets to a bigger size and the carb runs great on the new engine-probably 100-125 more hp. Another option.

 

When a real mechanic says "Your carb is bad.", you should translate that as:

I don't do carbs, so I want to sell you a new one. That way, I can get my 'cut' of a high-dollar parts purchase.

If your carb has worked well in the past, there is nothing physically wrong with the carb. You most likely have a vacuum leak, a fuel-saturated float, or some intake/carb gasket problem.

The bad news is that you could purchase a NEW carb and have very similar results to what you now have. If the carb isn't really the problem, the new carb will behave in the same manner.

With your car sitting in your garage or driveway and with engine idling, you can identify any vacuum leak problem and/or any gasket leakage problem very easily. With engine idling, use small squeeze clamps or Vise-Grips to block off vacuum lines coming FROM the intake manifold and the carb (except for the line going to the distributor vacuum advance can). Those lines are used to send vacuum signals to the headlamps and emissions equipment; and none of that is necessary for an idling engine. If you block off those lines and find that your fluctuating rpm problems go away, you just need to trace out WHICH of those lines has the leak in it and correct the problem.

If you block off all the [outgoing] vacuum lines and the problem doesn't improve, you can remove the clamps and go to Step #2.

Again, engine idling: Get a spray can of carb cleaner and stick the little plastic tube onto the spray button (so you can accurately direct the spray). Now, put that can/tube very close to an area of the intake gasket joint. This can be one of the 'side' gaskets or the 'end' [valley] gaskets. Shoot a small puff of cleaner at that gasket joint and listen to the engine for any change in rpm. If the gasket has a leak in that area, it will suck in the carb cleaner and the engine will rev a bit...then go back to idle. If no change, move to another area of that gasket.

Continue along both side gaskets, both end gaskets/seals, and all the way around the carb. Also shoot the area where the throttle plate shafts are fit into the baseplate; wear in the shaft bores can allow unwanted air in, as well.

These two tests will allow you to find 'usual and customary' causes of intake air leaks. Be aware that similar problems can result from a plugged-up EGR valve and some other defective emissions equipment.

If you still think the carb is the problem, I STRONGLY recommend that you send an e-mail to Lars Grimsrud at V8FastCars@msn.com requesting info an his availability to work on your carb and costs involved. He is VERY good, VERY reasonable, and usually has good turn-around times.