lonman89

ok awhile back my edelbrock performer carb went bad and after talkin with friends who had the same carb they said they had the same probs with the edelbrock carb so i opted not to rebuild it and i went and put my old quadrajet on it and after inspecting it i had my dad look it over(as im still learnin about cars)and he noticed that he 4bbl wont kick in,i have the carb adapter on my edelbrock intake so i kno its not hittin the manifold and dad thinks its in the linkage but he dont have the time to look it over so i thought id ask you guys

sofakingdom

iTrader: (1)

Not sure what you mean by this?

How do you know this? What makes you think it's not ... "kicking in"?

lonman89

what i mean is the back two barrels are not opening up(kick in),the reason i think its not workin is when i have my air cleaner off and i rev my motor up the back two barrels wont open like sumtins stuck,dad said its susposed to kick in when you rev it up high,and when i took it around the block i can get on it(accelerate hard) and it seems to have no power,reason i kno this is because my edelbrock carb i had on there the 4bbl would kick in and id get alot of power when i would mash the gas and i could kick it sideways and etc,i dont have the money to get a new carb and i dont wanna mess with the edelbrock so hopefully i can fix my quadrajet

camaro91

just sounds like your secondaries are stuck. tried some carb cleaner?

lonman89

no but if i go to my dads today ill see if he has any and i will spray it,but do i just spray it in the back two butterflies or all 4 and should i take the carb off or leave it on the motor

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

Sounds normal. There isn't enough air flow blipping the throttle in the driveway to open the secondary AV's. As long as the secondary throttle shaft lock-out lever is releasing when the choke opens as it should, and the AV is adjusted as it should be, don't worry about the AV not opening in this little driveway "test".

lonman89

mines not a stock lg4 its a 350 4 bolt main that me n dad built

Trustin

It is very difficult to "see" the secondaries opening up. I have changed springs on my holley several times and the only way that I know of to know whether the back two barrels are opening is to get on the road and really get into it. Even when I do that, it is hard to know that the back two are open.

sofakingdom

iTrader: (1)

Oh, THAT....

The secondary air valve, the part you can see up there on top, ISN'T SUPPOSED TO open when you do that. If it does, the car will run TERRIBLE.... it'll sputter and cough and die whenever you stomp on the gas.

They almost always work. The whole system design is pretty reliable. I doubt there's anything wrong with yours.

lonman89

i dont kno it just feels like its not working,i can notice a big difference in the power response from the old edelbrock to the quadrajet,i kno theres a difference between edelbrock and rochester but theyre both 600cfm carbs and dad says its not kicking in so i trust him 100% on what he says,not just because hes my dad but he graduated in auto mechanics and has his masters degrees and is ase certified and etc,im not on hear to test your judgements but i really think its not working because it feels way to slugish and i dont feel/hear it kick in,

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

If you feel the secondaries "kick in", then you're bogging, which means the secondaries are opening too quickly.

Do you hear a "brrraaawwww" when you are driving it and open it up?

lonman89

the few times i have driven it,it drives fine but when i "punch it" it doesnt accelerate and have the get up and go like the edelbrock did,tell me what its susposed to do when the 4bbl opens up and ill try to understand what your saying and see if my quadrajet is doin what you said,im just goin by what my dad said so hell it might be working and it may not,when i got the motor it had teh carb on it but i put a edelbrock perfromer on it and i dont kno the condition of the q-jet,it did have a wire around the linkage on the choke side if that had anything to do with it

SteelTownMadDog

iTrader: (2)

No offense to your dad, but being a ASE certified mechanic means you know how to do general car repairs like brake jobs and you're suppose to know how to do it and not comprimise the driver's life. When it comes to performance oriented work, most mechanics don't know much. I know I've talked to some certified mechanics about performance stuff and it's like a "deer in the headlights".

Like someone else said, the top butterflies on the QJet will only open "under load" which is while you're driving and slam the throttle down. If you hear a big "drone" sound from the engine when you slam the throttle while driving, that's the rear barrels sucking in some air. It's VERY rare for those rear air valves not to work. If it's not working like you think it should, maybe the carb needs to be rebuilt or repaired.

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

A wired open choke mechanism screams "I don't work properly" to me. If the choke doesn't open properly, the secondary throttle shaft won't unlock. If the choke doesn't work and wasn't wired open all the way, the secondary throttle shaft won't unlock.

atc3434

iTrader: (4)

Carburators don't go bad, they just need to be fixed. I'm curious as to what went bad on the Edelbrock, and why that can't be fixed...

With the Q-jet, can you verify that the secondary throttle blades are opening? You should be able to hold the air valve open with a finger and move the throttle linkage to verify you're getting the throttle blades to full open. If you've got that working, look for the guide to setting the AV valve tension on a Q-jet, and get that dialed in right. If you've got all that cleared up, and it still feels like you don't get secondary opening, wire the av shut, and take it for a drive. See if it feels signifigantly worse, if it does, maybe the secondaries are working, and you just need some tuning to match the performance you had with the Edelbrock. Or, it may be eaiser just to fix the Edelbrock, it a simpler, easier to work on carb than the Q-jet, especially for a novice.

lonman89

the edelbrock was making my motor run too rich and flooding out and making my motor smoke and a few of my friends had the same stuff happen to them and i looked online and didnt find good reviews on the carb so i decided to put my q-jet on n now i have this problem
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five7kid thats what popped into my head but i dont have the funds to buy a new carb so i have to use what i have so i hope that i can fix this q-jet without spending alot of money into it

joshh44

i got that same problem but on a totally different car lol.

lonman89

Problem Fixed!!!! Can you say Holley carburator