Best off road carb for Chevy 350

[Norcalcruizer]

I am considering replacing my current quadrajet with either a rebuilt or a different brand. I cant seem to get the idle consistent, I am prettt confident it is a 18-20 year old carb since last rebuild.

I have heard the quadrajet is one of the better off road carbs because of the float bowl location and ability to run on steep inclines without loading/flooding out. I know Edelbrock makes an off road carburetor, not sure about Holley. Any thoughts on this? Should I just go with another quadrajet or consider a different brand. My 40 is going to be used for rock crawling which will put it on some steep inclines. Thanks for any feedback....

 

[Tancruiser]

I had an Edelbrock 600 on mine ,bolt it on and go . I did add the spring loaded needle valve kit for off roading and never had any issues.

 

[Captn Conch]

Just get the Quadrajet rebuilt, you'll be just fine.

 

[Ian Macdonald]

Ditto on the Edelbrock 600. Purrs like a (big) kitten.

 

[cult45]

No Holleys. Ever. Q Jet is ace.

 

[reddingcruiser]

TBI

Well, it looks sorta like a carb, only it runs a lot better.

 

[pbgbottle]

I had the edelbrock with spring loaded needle seat always stalled steep downhill and sideslopes but went like a bat out of hell. Switched back to the Rochester and all has been great , the Rochester does make the 350 seem a bit sleepy though , but I have stayed with the Rochester for the off-road driveability

 

[Norcalcruizer]

TBI

Well, it looks sorta like a carb, only it runs a lot better.

What TBi kit would you recommend? The only issue I am facing is the CA smog thing. I have a CARB sticker for the current setup, have no idea what would be involved with getting a CARB sticker for a TBI setup. I know it can be done, my friend has a 1981 40 with TBI on his 350, I will have to give him a call and see what he had to do. I figured it would just be easier to replace it and leave it be, but having TBI would be very cool if it was not too much of a headache dealing with CA smog issues. There is also something about a basic carb that has no computers attached to it, pretty bulletproof in that sense.

 

[Downey]

Norcalcruizer, most of the off road racers would not agree with you, they all found EFI much more dependable in the middle of Baja than a carburetor. If you went TBI, you'd use all Chevy parts (intake manifold, throttle body, computer, harness, distributor, all the sensors). I'm then thinking the smog inspector would love you for making your rig cleaner burning than it was.

 

[reddingcruiser]

2x what @Downey said. OEM TBI is very reliable. Howell EFI has a nice setup.

Unlike a carb, TBI (and TPI) motors are largely unaffected by steep inclines. Makes them an excellent choice for rock crawling.

 

[shawnfj40]

^X3

 

[Roadtrip]

I have an Edelbrock 600 on a 307 chevy in my bouncy 40. It works, good throttle response, tunable, reliable. Had it on a few steep trails with no problems. They are simple and cheap. Not a rock climber though. And I have to sit in it to run the manual choke during cold starts. If I ever run out of things to spend money on I might upgrade the fuel flow control to digital.
Holleys are great for 1/4 mile cars, not so much hitting bumps.

 

[Downey]

I'm an EFI guy, but I will say this about Holleys; their off road problem is the route in which air enters the float bowl (float bowl venting). Problem is gas can bounce out of the float bowl and down into the throat of the carburetor during steep up hill ascents/bouncing. BUT here's the deal, parts ARE available to baffle and chimney the Holley float bowl (absolute end of the problem), and are NOT available for other brands of carburetors.

 

[White Stripe]

How bout:
Fast EZ-EFI Self Tuning Fuel Injection System Best Price Tbi Kit Carburetor

 

[Norcalcruizer]

Those all sound like good options, I would need to look into the CARB rules on this. For anyone that lives in this state, they do things that make no sense. Not to mention I would probably need to modify my exhaust and run some type of catalytic converter which I do not need now. It gets real expensive quick when adding items that affect smog regs, for $2k for the EFI kit almost seems worth it to find a newer, used Vortec engine. I can get a remanufactured, bench tested Qjet for $250 and bolt it on, that sound like a bargain

I wish I could figure out why my current Qjet does not always idle correctly, it will be fine for awhile then drop from 700 to 550 rpms for no reason. I checked for vacuum leaks and could find none, I am just assuming it needs a rebuild from the age of it. Other than this it runs great, electric choke works fine for cold starts, no dead spots throughout the power band.

 

[reddingcruiser]

Check for leaks on the bores for the throttle plate shafts. This is a fairly common source of intermittent idle issues on "well used" carbs. Also, worn bores/shafts prevent the plates from seating properly and consistently making idle adjustments a crap shoot.

Use the starting fluid method, being careful to keep the spray localized at the shaft (nozzle w/straw) to see if this is the problem.

 

[pbgbottle]

Go for the rebuild pull it apart clean it blow some compressed air through the passages put her back together and it should be good to go. I'm still running my 30 yr old Q-jet
Rebuilt it once. Runs like a top. Never touched the shafts either. Still using the old heating Ellement for the choke. Lol great carbs. Rebuild kits are cheap doesn't take long to rebuild them either. Unless u soak them overnight. I usually just pop them part blow it out put it back together and away it goes. Easy , not much to them.