Quadrajet mechanic needed

83ChevyK10

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 24, 2009
Location
Kings Mountain,NC
I have a chevy 350 with a quadrajet carb. Looking for a shop that can tune it and the motor in. Someone who's close to the kings mountain area
 
I think there were 3 old men that ever knew how to work on them, but two of them died.

Seriously though, a well tweaked Qjet can move some air and fuel!
 
I agree with Tom. Maybe Holley on the street, but I've Never seen one run right on the trail. Guess it does take Old men, to work on them. My Older Brother is rebuilding 1 for my friend as I type this! He's in Stanley, not sure if that would help you.
 
Croatan_Kid said:
I think there were 3 old men that ever knew how to work on them, but two of them died.

Seriously though, a well tweaked Qjet can move some air and fuel!
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My grandpa used to know his way around one, but he died 22 years ago. After he had to retire because of heart problems in the 70s (he was in his late 30s I think) people would bring him qjets to the house and he'd build them at the kitchen table according to my dad. One guy swore that he took his home bolted it on and didn't even have to adjust the idle, LOL.

Somehow I got hooked on Fords instead of GM so I've never messed with one although I know my way around an autolite or holley pretty good. That said if I was running a street GM I'd run a qjet for sure, they get good milage, great throttle response with those tiny front barrels, and they sound better than any exhaust on earth when those big secondaries open up!
 
rodney eppes said:
I agree with Tom. Maybe Holley on the street, but I've Never seen one run right on the trail. Guess it does take Old men, to work on them. My Older Brother is rebuilding 1 for my friend as I type this! He's in Stanley, not sure if that would help you.
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Rodney is your beother a mechanic or does he just work on them on the side?
 
Tim C said:
My grandpa used to know his way around one, but he died 22 years ago. After he had to retire because of heart problems in the 70s (he was in his late 30s I think) people would bring him qjets to the house and he'd build them at the kitchen table according to my dad. One guy swore that he took his home bolted it on and didn't even have to adjust the idle, LOL.

Somehow I got hooked on Fords instead of GM so I've never messed with one although I know my way around an autolite or holley pretty good. That said if I was running a street GM I'd run a qjet for sure, they get good milage, great throttle response with those tiny front barrels, and they sound better than any exhaust on earth when those big secondaries open up!
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I run a q-jet on one of my fords. They make adapters just for that.

I bought a couple of cores to rebuild but never got around to it for I found an old man. He had one ready and swore by it. He was absolutely right.

I've rebuilt a many carbs but never a q-jet. I'll attack the other q-jets one day with the inspiration that the one I got runs perfectly.

Maybe I'll master and become an old man q-jet guru???
 
I've seen those adapters, and Ford actually used qjets stock on some 429 and 460s, I used to have an intake for one. My problem now is my Fairlane came stock with a Holley, although not the double pumper that sits on it now, LOL and I dropped my autolite 2150 from my wheeling rig in favor of GM TBI on the 351m.

I recently bought a book on tuning qjets from Barnes and Noble because I was toying with the idea of running one on my Fairlane.
 
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I DO love the "chaa-woooop" sound from a Qjet opening up. Hard to not crack a smile when you hear it!
 
Croatan_Kid said:
I DO love the "chaa-woooop" sound from a Qjet opening up. Hard to not crack a smile when you hear it!
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I've ridden in several older Chevys with the air cleaner lid flipped so you could hear it better!
 
My dad's 85 K10 had a little flip down lever that kept the secondaries from opening all the way. It was a glorious day when I popped it off of there!
 
I might be the third old man. I always had better luck with Qjets. Just take them apart, clean them, and set to specs. I probably got a million miles behind them. They will starve on a steep hill but better than Holley. I'd like to help you but you're kind of far away.
 
83ChevyK10 said:
Rodney is your beother a mechanic or does he just work on them on the side?
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He's been a life long mechanic. Worked out his his back yard for the past 20+ years, now retired due to health issues. But he wont sit down, he still does more than he should.
I could ask him if he thinks he could help you. It's pretty hard for him to bend over a fender, or get under a hood, especially a truck.
 
No help here, for a while anyway. My sister called this morning; our Brother has developed an intestinal blockage from some prior surgery. He's going in for more surgery today!
 
I think 90% of the time on things like this the best answer is to pick up a q-jet manual, some carb cleaner solution and take good notes. When I first started out, I'd use a giant piece of paper on a table. I'd put the main body in the middle and note the direction. Then every piece I took off I placed down on the paper and traced it out in steps of where it went. I made sure to take a lot of notes. And of course plenty of pictures now days along with Youtube.

Can't beat experience though for those trial and error lessons that can't be found in the books. I had a holley pro teach me how to rebuild a holley and he had many tricks for everything along with special home-made tools and such. I would have never known how to fix a worn butterfly shaft with Teflon if it wasn't for him. After that lesson, I scored enough teflon to last 8 life times.

Another big help is to install bolts in the mounting holes with nuts holding the carb up in the air so you can operate it as you go.
 
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