When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Hi,
trying to ID the Rochester on my alleged 79/80 'vette. Car is a salvage rebuild about 1985 imported to UK from California in August this year. rather worn ID
. Has no regular VIN as chassis believed replaced but has California VIN plate with CA prefix. Numbers on the carb worn! .
What is the 'redundant' item in 4th photo. Judging from the connector it hasn't been connected for a long while or though there is a nearby f fem plug that once might have attached to it but has melted somewhat from laying on top of the engine.....
The part in the forth photo is the idle solenoid which, I believe, was activated with the A/C to maintain idle speed. The date code 0640 indicates it was built on the day 64 of 1980. Since this carb has the electrical connection, it most likely is an E4ME with the part number of either 17080504 or 17080517.
Thanks for that info. Car starts and runs fine but very high tickover when warm. Also baffled by the 'missing' vacuum hoses/ breather on the air cleaner intakes....do they need to be connected to somewhere or redundant on this year/model? Should the choke butterfly be fully open once the engine is hot? Could this be causing high idle rpm? Thanks. Missic vac hoses? Choke plate
Yes choke should be fully open when hot.
the vacuum line on top goes to that green ac part that opens the flap once the air temp reaches a set point..i think 130f..the bottom one opens the flap at zero vacuum wide open throttle...
From: At my Bar drinking and wrenching in Lafayette Colorado
Trevor -
Unfortunately, you got yourself a pile of leftover parts there.... pretty bad stuff. The carb is a commercially rebuilt computer-controlled carb from a late-80's truck. The original numbers have been machined off, so it's impossible to tell exactly what it came off of. But it's irrelevant - it's not suitable for use or rebuild, and it would be a bad choice for your non-ECM Vette even if the carb were in rebuildable condition. Which it's not.
From the looks of the photos, you have a lot of work to do to piece the car back into a reasonable configuration - somebody emptied their entire spare parts shack and barn when they salvaged that car... If I were you, and realizing you are in the UK, I would source a good, used, rebuildable carb that would be suitable for your application (1976 - 1980 Chevy passenger car Q-Jet) here in the US. Have it shipped over to you either in its used, original condition, or have it professionally rebuilt and tested before shipping to you. Then, I would get the vacuum diagram/schematic for your car and start restoring the vacuum hose systems in the engine compartment. Your other option, if you don't have to pass any EU emissions testing requirements, is to clean it all up and remove all but the essentials if you want to create more of a "street car" custom look. Obviously, "number-matching" will never be an achievable goal with your vehicle, so you can do some "creative cosmetic cleanup" within the bounds of your EU motor vehicle system.
The solenoid on the carb was used for 2 purposes: First, it is an idle-up solenoid to kick the idle up just a tad when the air conditioning is kicked on. This prevents the idle from dropping or changing when the compressor is running. Other cars used it as an anti dieseling solenoid, which closed the carb's throttle blades when the ignition is shut off in order to prevent engine run-on after shutdown.
Yes, the choke plate should be wide open (fully and firmly vertical) when the engine is hot - usually after less than 15 minutes' operation. If it is not fully vertical, the carb will be on the fast idle cam, which will produce excessive high idle speed.
If interested in locating a rebuildable carb, e-mail me for some info that you may find useful (even if you're going to try to find something usable in Europe).
thank you for that.
With the car there is no problem with emissions in the Uk, with no limits specified for a 40 year old car. Bearing in mind that the car will run less than 1000 miles annually, mostly for 'pose and shows', I am not interested in performance or necessarily originality. I presume I should be able to get someone here who is familiar with the Rochester to set it to give me acceptable running? If not I will have to go along the lines of replacement. I will PM you my email.....many thanks.
From: At my Bar drinking and wrenching in Lafayette Colorado
That ECM-controlled commercially rebuilt Q-Jet you have cannot be set up, or "adjusted," to run without an ECM. You do not have an ECM on your '79/80. The carb you have cannot be used on your car. Junk it and find a good, rebuildable carb suitable for your car.
Trevbeadle, Do yourself a huge favor, listen to Lars! He is, by far, the most knowledgeable person you will ever find to help you with your problem. He is the carb "Guru". Nobody I have seen or heard from can "****** the pebble from his hand". Regards, Mark
Yes, when Lars tells you that your carburetor is the wrong type for your car and cannot be rebuilt you should listen!
High idle is often related to vacuum leaks and given what I see I suspect you have plenty of them.
The dual snorkel air intake is an excellent design. There is a thermostatic vacuum switch in the bottom of the air cleaner housing with two connectors extending below (the greenish piece with "AC" in your photo). It modulates intake air temperature via the damper in the front snorkel with its attachment via a corrugated aluminium tube that connects to the "heat stove" installed on the driver (US) side exhaust manifold. With wide-open throttle the side snorkel opens which lowers intake air temperature to maximize power.
thank you for that.
With the car there is no problem with emissions in the Uk, with no limits specified for a 40 year old car. Bearing in mind that the car will run less than 1000 miles annually, mostly for 'pose and shows', I am not interested in performance or necessarily originality. I presume I should be able to get someone here who is familiar with the Rochester to set it to give me acceptable running? If not I will have to go along the lines of replacement. I will PM you my email.....many thanks.
The reason why the ECM carb can't be used without its computer is that they work together to vary the air-fuel ratio. You are better off using a Q-jet from an older car that used purely mechanical means to do that.
You can buy one from Summit Racing for a '79 for under $300.
From: At my Bar drinking and wrenching in Lafayette Colorado
Originally Posted by Yadkin
You can buy one from Summit Racing for a '79 for under $300.
Please don't do that. Those are commercially rebuilt carbs, and they are complete junk. Will cause you nothing but grief and problems. Don't do it. E-mail me for my "Commercially rebuilt Q-Jet Problems" paper for a complete rundown on the issues. Don't waste your money on a doorstop.
Still confused as to why this ECM carb has all the plugs attached and loom in the engine bay. Perhaps it was 'rebuilt ' from salvage that way. Anyway no matter as I am in the process of swapping it!
From: Las Vegas - Just stop perpetuating myths please.
I think this was a test to see who can identify a parts bin special corvette piece by piece. Without a chassis ID number makes me wonder if the car was stolen before import. I recall quite a few corvettes along with other sports and luxury cars ended up in the Philippines. Don't know how they get them on a ship without ownership documents but they do.
Regardless the small block chevy was so proliferate world wide somewhere in the UK they must sell carburetors for it. A low compression GM Good Wrench 350 will be difficult to hurt. So you should have fun experimenting with it.
From: At my Bar drinking and wrenching in Lafayette Colorado
No question. This car is a salvage-titled wreck that has been pieced together from junk and spare parts. It couldn't be sold to anyone in the U.S., so it was shipped to Europe, misrepresented, and sold fraudulently. A real shame. I've seen a lot of this in my dealings with American musclecars in Europe - a real tragedy that people do this stuff to buyers in Europe. Makes Americans look real bad.
Originally Posted by cardo0
Somewhere in the UK they must sell carburetors for it.
Good, unmolested, rebuildable Q-Jets are very difficult to locate in England, Europe, and Australia. They have a lot of junk stuff that's been sold to them by dishonest sellers here in the U.S. A good Q-Jet is tough to find in Europe, making restoration efforts by our Corvette brothers in Europe a monumental task. I admire then for even attempting it. Try finding a good, unmolested, virgin, rebuildable carburetor for a 1969 Morris Minor here in the States...
From: Las Vegas - Just stop perpetuating myths please.
There must some money to be made in it but it looks like it takes quite an effort to put enough unidentifiable pieces together and pay for shipping also. Said and done I wonder if they make even $1,000 on the effort?
I'm just using my imagination but excluding good qjet cores I wonder if a company in Europe has a usable Holley or AFB model sold new in the box but made in Europe. Haven't Chinese copies flooded Europe yet? I guess I would have to search Google UK to find out.
Do you have the original VIN to determine if it was in fact a 305 California Vette? I believe it would have the computer controlled distributor as well.....this is going to go a long way in helping you proceed.
Pull the air cleaner and take some more overall pics and it will help us better help you understand what is going on.
Lars,
thanks for your reply and to my one in 'Ported or manifold vacuum'. I'm still referring to this bag of bits and the jigsaw seems to be slowly falling into place! Yes..I think this car probably was a 1980 305California car, with a 5.0 L engine and automatic transmission, the carburettor and ignition timing working under the Computer Command Control system, if I'm correct? This is presumably why it has the 'ECM' carb and the other Californian emission requirements under the hood. The vacuum arrangement fits the schematic you posted , Lars,apart from no vac to smog pump, thats looks like an electric plug on the Div valve..What I know is the car apparently was salvaged and given a new VIN by the Californian DMV in the mid 80's.and then it's spent its whole life in California until it was imported to UK in 2019.
At some stage while in the US a replacement engine was fitted, although they seem to have kept everything else the same (carb, dissy, emissions), engine details of which I think i have decoded,....: Block 10066036...350.....4 bolt main...TargetMaster/Goodwrench crate engine, 2-piece rear seal, "Hecho en Mexico" Made in Mexico. 1M0615 9VP Not 100% sure on the suffix but the M = GM of Mexico, 06 = 06mnth mo of year, 15 = 15th day of month. 9= could be year 9? VP is the suffix added to all of the goodwrench/targetmaster 260 HP engines? Now, as you say I'm having real fun trying to sort this car! I've got it, however, and am trying to make a go of it as it was running like a sack of spanners! I'm very appreciative for all the help both on the UK Corvette forum and this, thanks for all your help guys......
Lars, that carb in my other post on 'vacuum', I have sourced here in the UK is a 17085226 ; 1566 HLY. I'm sure that means something to you but was told by the 'expert' I bought it from it was suitable for this engine! The carb looks like a straight swap ( I have the old ECM one off now). My only thoughts now are, is the distributor suitable and with most of the electrics detached from the old carb, am I running into ever more problems?
Quadrajet help
No question. This car is a salvage-titled wreck that has been pieced together from junk and spare parts. It couldn't be sold to anyone in the U.S., so it was shipped to Europe, misrepresented, and sold fraudulently. A real shame. I've seen a lot of this in my dealings with American musclecars in Europe - a real tragedy that people do this stuff to buyers in Europe. Makes Americans look real bad.