As "good" Q-Jet carbs become more difficult to find, I have been providing a "coaching" service to assist people in finding good, original, rebuildable Q-Jets for their Corvettes. As most of you who have been following my opinionated posts know, I highly discourage the use of the junk, "commercially rebuilt" carbs - those carbs are a complete waste of money, and will seldom run well enough to make your engine idle - much less make your car run right. So I encourage people to find unmolested, un-rebuilt, original carbs, and then do a good rebuild to bring your car back to it's original configuration and level of performance.

The carbs you want to find are the old, un-restored carbs with lots of grime and dirt. Not rust. Just slime and bugs. Scorpions in the float bowl are just fine (I feel like the "Farmers" insurance commercial: "I know a thing or two, because I've seen a thing or two." Yes, I have received carbs with dead baby scorpions in the float bowl). Here is a magnificent find that one of our Forum members sent to me for evaluation off an eBay ad. It's a 7029202 1969 standard 350 Vette carb. $35 (this was actually the second '69 Vette carb for less than $50 that Forum people found on eBay this week). This carb is absolutely beautiful - a fantastic eBay find:








Gotta' love the stripped inlet threads:


So much crap in the float bowl that I had to use a torch to get the jets out:


But after hot tank cleanup, de-oxidizing solution, and inlet thread repair the carb is ready to go together. Here it's all laid out in its glory:


Carb assembled and on the test engine - it tested and ran perfectly:


The same eBay carb after cleanup, rebuild and final testing. Everything is correct and original from the steel fuel inlet fitting to the "doghouse" vent cover. A very nice original, correct setup for any '69 Vette:








So go find those nice carbs and let's save them..!!

Lars

 

I'm sure I won't forget, but I might, so when you see that I post the beginning of my body off resto/mod on my 73, send me a PM or just a post as a reminder and I'll ship my Q-Jet to you just for all the help you give and time you invest on this forum.
I'm not positive, but I believe it is the OEM carb that came on the car.

 

I'd be glad to work on your carb, Greg. Don't send me the carb until you're ready to use it - I actually test run every carb I build, so it gets fuel "wetted" - carbs don't like to be stored after they've been "wetted," so you need to put it into service once you get it from me.

Lars

 

I'll be running a Quick Fuel Q-850 on my 496.
The Q-jet on there now is a donation.

 

Do you only do Q-Jets or will you work any brand?

 

The donations from people like you are what help "save" so many of the carbs I get from people who need help. Very few of these carbs can actually be rebuilt and corrected with only a "rebuild kit." Most carbs need a significant number of parts and components that can only be obtained from donor carbs. If your carb is a complete, salvageable carb, there will be many people wanting a good, well-built original carb.

Lars

 

I'm limited to building carbs that I can test on my test engine. That limits me to Q-Jets and Holley-style 4-bbl carbs. No AFBs, 4-Jets, 2GCs, Autolites, ThermoQuads, Strombergs, Webers, or stuff like that. I mostly do Q-Jets for Chevy's, Pontiacs, and the Oldsmobile guys, and I do a bit of Holley work for the C2 Vette guys and the 428CJ Ford guys. I also do Holley setup and test work for the local drag racers and for 2 of the teams running Baja racing. There are a lot of guys out there who do good Holley setup work, so I'm far from the only guy doing that type of stuff. I prefer doing the Q-Jet work - that's "my thing."

Lars

 

I have a Holley but it's on a Dodge. Probably not going to be a good one for you.

 

Carbs don't care what brand engine they're on.

 

I though there were different base plates for different intakes etc. Obviously I am not a carb guy. I could mess a brand new one up in two minutes flat.

 

Since you take donations I have a pontiac Qjet I got that came off a 67 chevelle. I guess he got it from someone else as well. It was only $30 bucks. I am still loving the 69 vette Qjet you built for me if I can keep the Carter fuel pumps from dieing. I'll find a box and send it out to help the next guy out

 

My hats off to you Lars...You could just as easily buy up all the good ebay carbs and triple or quadruple your money but instead you give your guidance to those in need....Indeed a class act.

Brian

 

Thank you for the service that you offer. Was at the local car show the past Saturday night and was told that if you boil Holley carb main bodies and bowls in lemon oil that it restores the original finish appearance.

Suppose that that would not work with the Rochester as the finish is different?

 

Lars I can't find a Rochester for my 71 AT vette! I found one numbered 7041212 but man is it expensive!
Can I use any other Rochester or Holley carb on my L48 71 Corvette with AT?

 

I would gladly accept any donation like that - it really helps in my ability to assist people in getting their carbs up and running. I just had a guy from Germany send me the carb off his '69 Riviera, and someone had installed incorrect, wrong make/model/model year choke linkage on the carb, making the choke never fully close, and never fully open. I happened to have a donated '69 Pontiac carb, which uses the Buick style linkages. The guy in Germany with the Riv now has a correct-looking and well running carb again, thanks to people like you.

The gold-ish/brown-ish color on Holley and Q-Jet carbs is all the same. It's a chemical chromate conversion coating, and is not based on lemon oil. Since it is not based on lemon oil, and since lemon oil has no chromates in it, the oil cannot "restore" the finish. It's quite possible that the oil may tint the surfaces, but I don't think I'd call that a "restored" surface...

Send me an e-mail and I'll send you some info on what carbs you can look for.

Lars
V8FastCars@msn.com

 

I am one of the local racers. Do you do E 85 Holley conversions? I have most of whats needed and new parts.
Thanks

 

No, I don't, because I don't have any way of being able to test and verify the setups.

 

Lars, thanks again for everything you do. I just looked through your articles that I have, but didn't see one about how you rebuild one of these. Have you done a step-by-step article, thread or video of how to rebuild one? I did a quick search on the forum and then on google, but didn't see one.

I did find something very cool however... https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/05/a...es/05LARS.html

 

I don't have any "How to Rebuild a Q-Jet" articles. This is intentional: 30 years ago, you could tear a Q-Jet down, clean it up, buy a "rebuild kit" and put the carb back together with a good chance of success by simply following a basic "how-to" assembly sequence. This is no longer the case. These carbs are now so butchered, screwed up, altered, and damaged that every part must be carefully inspected, repaired, or replaced. Over half of the carbs I receive have incorrect parts installed (Buick throttle plate on a Chevy float bowl with a Cadillac airhorn, patched together with an incorrect choke linkage system that will prevent the choke from operating no matter how you adjust it, as an example). Putting together a "how-to" article is a sure recipe for disaster, since most carbs cannot simply be rebuilt and set up. An article cannot cover the hundreds of weird-*** variables, and it's the identification and repair of these variables that is key to making these carbs run again.

Lars

 

Very good point. Makes sense.