The new mutt...1973ish

[ARCTICMUTT]

My understanding is that Holley's aren't good at angles. My truck has a 283 SBC running a Quadrajet. Everything I have read says that they are the go-to carb for off road use because they run at virtually any angle. I just rebuilt my first quadrajet last weekend, and it was pretty straightforward. A couple things about Q-jets to know when rebuilding:

1. They have 5 welch plugs in the bottom of the float bowl that tend to leak. I covered the rear plugs with epoxy, and drilled/tapped the original primary plugs for threaded plugs, then epoxied those in.

2. Over many years of use, the primary throttle shaft tends to wear a slightly wider hole in the throttle body casting, which can lead to vacuum leaks and weird idle issues. They can (and should) be drilled out and brass-bushed. I didn't do this, and I think I may be running into this issue now.

3. The needle on the back if the float does NOT mount to the two holes on the float, it dangles off the rounded edge of the back of the float. I did this wrong too, and may be paying for it now!

4. If the screws have been overtightened, the air horn can warp. Slight warpage is no big deal - thy make extra thick gaskets to compensate. A lot of warpage, or a cracked bridge between the secondary air flappers, means its trash.

Cliff Ruggles of Cliff's high performance is an awesome guy/resource and was very helpful.

A basic rebuild is NOT difficult and should be nothing to be afraid of. I'm a marketing guy with little to no wrenching experience and I managed to get through it in a weekend

I also took a TON of pictures. There's a lot on the "Clustertruck rides again" thread. I have more if you'd like them.

I'm still working out some bugs, may have a vacuum leak or ignition issues, but the actual rebuild was not too tough.

Thanks...I've been keeping up with your build and

The q-jet is a weird one and it was only used from 71-72 on a very few engines that and the fact that it's a 2 barrel is what has me leary. I'm leaning towards rebuilding the holley and doing this modification later on down the road.

http://classicbroncos.com/tech/offroad-tricks-for-holley-4-barrel-carbs

I had a buddy do this and it made a huge difference in off road performance.

 

[RWBeringer4x4]

Thanks...I've been keeping up with your build and

The q-jet is a weird one and it was only used from 71-72 on a very few engines that and the fact that it's a 2 barrel is what has me leary. I'm leaning towards rebuilding the holley and doing this modification later on down the road.

http://classicbroncos.com/tech/offroad-tricks-for-holley-4-barrel-carbs

I had a buddy do this and it made a huge difference in off road performance.

Yeah, I ran into the same thing...Mine's a 4 barrel but it was, apparently, only used on a couple of Big-Block Buick V8's in the late 60's. It was also set up for a steering linkage, not a cable, and it's for an automatic transmission. makes hooking it up a little

It's funny - I just read that Holley mod page the other night when I was ready to throw my Q-jet in the trash. I may still go to a Holley, at least for the short term, if my friend has one floating around. Ultimately though, I'll probably go back to a Q-jet.

 

[ARCTICMUTT]

Well the decision got made for me tonight when I got a weiand aluminum 4 barrel intake for a steal.

 

[Medic406]

Ha honestly at the rate fj40s are going right now I think you would be lucky to find ANY thats not a mutt at some point. What a family to be a part of though! Im just starting on my first 40 now and I'm in a similar boat. Its frame vin says its a 73. the block says its a 75.... who knows what else everything else came from! Good luck on your build and I look forward to seeing how it goes.

Remember though, it didnt happen unless you post pictures!!!

 

[ARCTICMUTT]

Alright...I found the pad location and got the numbers off of them but have hit a wall. I'm pretty sure it's my own ignorance but I have searched for 45min trying to decode it.

It's a long pad with 2 sets of numbers the first 8 are 7n197061 and the last 7 v03i5ms. I double checked them and I'm fairly certain the num,bers are correct(hard to see)

Anyone able to chime in or have a good website for this? TIA

@medic I'll try to post some tomorrow.

 

[ARCTICMUTT]

Here is the few I was able to get...the wife wont let me use her good camera in the garage so right now I'm limited to iphone pics.

 

[ARCTICMUTT]

Here's 2 more.

 

[ARCTICMUTT]

So the quadrajet needs to be rebuilt or replaced sooner rather than later since I cant get it to start now without pouring fuel into the carb. I have a holley single pump 650 sitting in the garage from the sbc that I had in my last project. I'm going for tourque not hp. This carb also needs to be rebuilt but I feel it should give me everything I want for now and I already have it. So, my question is what does the masses think? Rebuild the 2bl qjet or rebuild the holley 650 4bl? When it comes to carbs I try to stay as far away as I can so any help is greatly appreciated

So with the info from my other post and the PO it looks like I have a 67 350 out of a manual camaro with 283 heads. Also I mentioned it not starting once I got it home and the PO said " just smack the carb with a hammer, the float sticks sometimes" smh. This makes me even more convinced of my decision to go to the holley. Who knows how many times they've hammered on the carb.

 

[ARCTICMUTT]

A little bit of an update. I rebuilt the holley last week (sorry no pics) and have to say it was way easier than I expected. I haven't installed it yet so that will really be the test on how "easy" it was...lol. I will hopefully get a chance this week to install the intake and carb.

 

[ARCTICMUTT]

I could use some help again...I want to get new plugs and wires for when I swap the intake and need to know whether to get the plugs for the 283 or for the 350...I haven't had a chance to pull a plug to cross reference yet but even if I did I would still be leery just because.

 

[ARCTICMUTT]

I would think that I want the plugs for the 283! Also, I like acdelco plugs anyone else run or recommend others?

 

[ARCTICMUTT]

Small update: I seem to never be able to work on it while I've been keeping it at work so I cleaned out the garage enough to squeeze it in and took it home on Friday...the plan is to hopefully have the carb and intake swapped on by next weekend.

On a side I had been searching for a good set of old school Mickey Thompson valve covers (best look on an sbc IMO) for over a month and was not having any real luck, they were either priced way to high or completely trashed with extra holes...A set popped up on craigslist and I was able to get them for a song and a dance and the cool factor was that they came off of the guys 1968 Camaro and he put them on it new in 1972. With the fact that my engine is out of a 68 Camaro I believe these might have just been destined to be together

 

[ARCTICMUTT]

Not a lot to update...finally got around to working on it for a little bit on Saturday morning and was able to pull the valve covers and intake off...found some excessive carbon build up so I am waiting on a scope from a coworker and going to check everything before reassembly...Also just in case anyone pulls this up as reference later on down the road I am going to run acdelco r45 plugs which are the short thread ones...

 

[ARCTICMUTT]

Made a little progress yesterday...