DJette

Sorry, somehow I missed it. Aside from the typical not hearing the "whuuuuuuuuuu" of a quadrajet under load, if I physically open the primaries myself and push on the seondairys they are hard as a rock to move, but once I break them free they move easily for a time. It almost feels as if it's backfiring and they're getting stuck above level. I haven't checked the vaccuumm lines yet and upon a brief inspection I can't feel a groove worn in for them to get hung up on. All linkages are moving freely. Car starts instantly every time and runs smoothly other than a little miss at idle, I attribute it to the ? old plugs and wires. All I've done tune up wise is oil and filters.

76CSRvette

dollar on pennies project

Basically yeah I've been going through one thing at a time or as money allows me. My car sat for about 18 years after the PO had fixed it up and painted and well the car didn't fare well to the weather and sun. Now I've replaced all hose one by one or as they were popping changed all calipers and redid the motor and tranny and radiator and everything to do with the engine. Next step is all bushings and suspension components. I've been at it since 2006 and only like 20% in but im in it for the long haul and it still gets attention eventhough I scraped off all the paint

Shark Racer

Is this the secondary air valve (top) or the secondary throttle blades(bottom)?

The air valves, if the engine is off, will have their movement restricted by the choke pull off.

If the choke is engaged, the secondary throttle blades will not open as there is a link on the passenger (right-hand) side of the carburetor preventing them from opening while the car is cold.

DJette

It's the secondary throttle blades on the bottom.
I've tried two ways and it's same with the car off and the linkage disconnected as it is with the car warmed up and off the choke. Once I broke it free I held the top open and eased the bottom open, but it didn't like that (chugging and spat fuel). It's been a couple weeks so I'm not sure of this, but I think after I let it run awhile longer the lower butterflies got caught in a bind again. That's what leads me to believe a backfire or something is causing it to get pushed above level and get caught up. It does miss a little at idle, but I attribute that to old plugs and wires.

DJette

Double post, low service at work made a hit when I thought it was a miss.

Shark Racer

From what you're seeing, it's likely they're gummed up and in need of a good cleaning. If they're that bad, odds are the whole thing could stand to be cleaned up. 79 Q-Jets are pretty resilient, so after a rebuild you shouldn't need to do much else to get the thing running up.

A couple hours of work and $50-75 will have that thing running better everywhere.

DJette

Awesome. I'm a little (very) nervous about taking off the carb let alone disassembling it. I've done a ton of carb work before, but only on motorcycle and dirt bikes. Looking at a real carb like a quadrajet makes me feel a little uneasy. I know I can do it, but I think your couple hours estimate might be off by one or two days