It's completely broken down right now. I'm at the point where I'm beginning to reassemble the pieces, but I stopped after reading in the Haynes manual how the seat needed a gasket and my rebuild kit does not have one. It's been pretty much sitting in my room for a few months now. I was just saying if I went through all the trouble of rebuilding it and a problem developed that had something to do with the seat not sealing properly, I'd be pretty upset.

oh, I see what you mean.

Maybe someone else can confirm that gasket, my non-cc q-jet has been working perfectly with the tiny brass disc of a gasket. But since it's a brass seat, screwing into a brass casting, I can't help but think the brass gasket is a waste of time.

It's a coated metal (brass) gasket, and far from a waste of time.

I would use the small gasket, otherwise the height of the seat will be off affecting float level. A long time ago, before there was a third generation, I rebuilt a q-jet and upon putting it back together found that the float required some major readjustment. It was fine before tear down so I pulled everything apart and discovered that I had installed the new seat gasket on top of the old seat gasket effectively raising the seat. Would it have been fine with two gaskets if I had readjusted the float level to the correct height? Maybe, but it is a change to the intended geometry and why chance it?

If you still need a gasket, I'll sell you one for a dollar.

Sure, send me a PM and I'll get back to you ASAP.

Thanks to naf's generous donation (he sent me a seat gasket in the mail), I am finally starting back on this project. I installed a new seat for the carb, but I'm confused as to how I am supposed to reassemble the automatic choke linkage. Does anyone have a few pictures as to how it is supposed to look?

I'm afraid I don't have anything clear.
It should be fairly obvious.
The one rod goes up to actuate the air horn flap on the primary (choke blade)
the big arm is "up" and the other part with the 3 steps is down, it'll actuate the primary throttle blades. It'll be able to hold it on a step, so, it has to face forward...
hmm, you can always take a nice clear picture of where you're working, and the parts you're trying to put on, (on a white piece of a paper) and i'm sure I could photoshop it together

Alright, basically these are the parts I'm having a hard time figuring out where they go. One of the levels actually fits perfectly onto the choke shaft, but when I put it on there, the choke won't fit onto the carb main body so I don't think it goes there. Any help would be appreciated.

"One of the levels actually fits perfectly onto the choke shaft, but when I put it on there, the choke won't fit onto the carb main body so I don't think it goes there." This is probably the lever that fits in the well on the main body between where the choke mounts and the throttle bores. Look on your other carb and you'll see the well where the choke rod comes up and attaches to the choke blades. You have to hold this lever in place while you engage it with the shaft.

If you don't have it by tomorrow I can pull an old one out of the box and send you something more descriptive.

Red circled is the secondary lock-out. It goes behind the choke housing. It can be left off if you have enough discipline not to floor it while the choke is still on.

Green circled goes in the body well as stated above. The green shaft in the housing engages it, has to be lined up properly to work. Blue circled goes to the choke butterfly shaft. You're not showing the link that goes between the two.

Is the secondary lock-out supposed to go on like in the picture on the right, or on the left?

I tried but I can't tell from the pics. I'd have to take my choke off and look at it from the same angle. My youngun's got the camera hidden, too, but I did find some diagrams that should help.

When you put it together correctly, the secondary lockout tab will prevent the secondaries from opening when the choke is closed.

I thought you had another one on the car while you were rebuilding this one? That's why I bought a second LG4, I kept taking things apart and forgetting how they go back together. No worries now.

Neither, as naf's diagram should show you.

I do have another one on my car, but it's hard to tell how things are set up without taking it off. Thanks for the diagrams, though.

No wonder I couldn't figure which one was right.

Oh and make sure you put the plunger rod for the TPS back in. If you forget you'll have hesitation with throttle changes, lugging and pinging while going up slight grades at cruise and your torque converter won't want to unlock. Then you'll spend an hour trying to figure out the problem when you get home from work, in the dark, with a shop light, while it's getting cold outside (below 60)...had to share that with someone.

I reckon I learn more by screwing up than any other method.

Wow, it took me forever to realize that the lock-out didn't actually go on the choke assembly itself.

EDIT:

Sweet, looks like I finally got the choke completely together again. Thanks again for all the help guys.

One last thing, when I push down on the choke rod, the lever inside the housing should go down right? The Haynes book is telling me the opposite, but that was the only way I could reassemble it.

Here are a few pics showing what I mean. The first pic is with the rod pulled up; the second is with the rod pushed down.

Sorry for all the questions, I just want to make sure I get this right.

Where can I get a D-shaped screw driver to remove the idle mixture screws? Is there any other way to get them out besides that special tool? Also, how far am I supposed to turn a screw when the instructions indicate "3 1/2 turns"? Is that one full revolution of the screw?

Sure you haven't got it 180 degrees out? I'm going from recollection mind you. If you're still stuck I can open mine up tomorrow when it's light.

You can get the idle mixture tool at Napa or the equivalent mine has a flexible shaft and three or four bits stored in the handle. I had to ask for a quadrajet adjustment tool. Course there's an official name for it somewhere.

I would take 3 1/2 turns to mean 3 1/2 full revolutions of the screw.

Well, I can't really remember how it looked when I disassembled it, but I do know that I didn't remove any of the linkages on the housing itself. It must have been that way when I removed it. I know the carb has been tampered with at some point in its life so it could have been reassembled the wrong way by one of its previous owners. Either way, it seems like everything works how it should, just backwards. Come to think of it, the only thing that is actually backwards is the small lever inside of the choke housing (all of the parts behind the housing itself look like how it is shown in the book). Strange.

Thanks again naf, you've been a great help.

Alright, I'm back on track with this project. I'm sure you guys are tired of me by now.

Anyway, I fixed the choke level alignment to how it should be, and removed, cleaned and reinstalled the idle mixture screws. The seat, needle and float are all reinstalled correctly as well. And I've got the TPS reinstalled.

Now here's a dumb question: Where do the primary metering rods go? I can't remember where they were taken out when I was disassembling the carb.

EDIT: Nevermind, I figured out where they go... it so obvious I feel dumb for asking. However, I ran into another problem.

My lean mixture adjustment screw won't thread into the hole it is supposed to. I studied the threads on it very carefully and it appears the very bottom threads on the screw (like 2-3 threads) are malformed. Not sure if I caused this or if I had always been like that, but I can't get it to seat at all. Can I buy another one from the parts store or is there some other way to fix this?

If you still have a problem when i return from vegas (au conf) next week i can check for a spare in my box of parts.

Yeah, that lean mixture screw is definately not going to work. I've check around various part stores and none of them have anything like that in stock. If you could do that for me I'd really appreciate it!

Just to confirm, you need the lean stop set screw that screws into the inside top of the airhorn, right? Controls the upward limit of travel for the mixture plunger. Need the spring to go with it?

If that's it, I got one here for you.

Yes, as far as I know that is what I need. It is the screw that goes right behind the float hinge and sort of connects to the M/C solenoid. I have a spring already, but if you can send yours if you want. Thanks again naf; I don't think this project would ever get done without your assistance!

Got them mixed up for a second..rich stop is in the airhorn. Finally got the part you need on the way today. Been a busy week for me after being away, and I have to fly out again tomorrow.

It's cool man. Don't worry too much over it, I'm in no rush. Whenever you get some free time would be great. Sounds like you're pretty busy (who isn't during the holidays? ). Thanks again.

I got the part in today naf. Looks like it will work fine. Thanks again!

Here's a silly question: does the plunger that goes into the M/C solenoid sit above the gasket or below? I really hope below because I've screwed the airhorn on already but now I'm having doubts.

OK, the plunger for the m/c solenoid sits above the gasket but I'm not sure it can even be installed below the gasket so we may be confused. The two primary metering rods should poke through holes in the airhorn gasket and the plunger should sit on top of these rods to control their up/down movement. Once assembled you need to double check proper action and range of movement with a tool placed in the bore of the Idle Air Bleed. I usually use a secondary metering rod as there's always one lying around nearby. It may require some adjustment of the lean and/or rich stop to get the proper 1/8" of travel so it's a good idea to put the airhorn on without the TPS or pump plunger installed at first to verify this setting. When putting the airhorn on with everything installed I like to use a one-inch gasket scraper (flat spatula thing) to hold down the pump plunger and TPS (you can place it on the edge of the plunger so it holds it in the bore but allows the plunger rod to stick up). Place the airhorn on, line everything up then slide the scraper out allowing everything to seat properly.

A few other things:

Always double check for proper action of the m/c solenoid after reinstalling airhorn by placing a tool through the IAB bore and clicking it up and down.

Be sure the float hinge pin is lined up the right way so the raised portion (it's kind of U-shaped, right?) is on the correct side in the slot-you'll see the slot in the carb body. If it's installed the opposite way it can rotate and change the geometry of the float.

Don't forget the small plunger for the TPS, it can be held in position in the airhorn while installing with a bit of heavy grease.

If you've removed and reinstalled the air valve flaps for the secondaries make sure they move freely without binding.

There's probably more but I'm short on time.

Sure enough I had installed the plunger incorrectly, so I removed the airhorn and fixed that.

The part I'm getting lost on is the lean and rich stop adjustments. I'm still not exactly sure what I'm supposed to be looking at as far as how I'm supposed to adjust them. I've searched through lots of posts on this board trying to figure it out, but different people all have different numbers that are all just out of the blue. I've heard the lean stop should be set anywhere from 3 to 6 turns out. Right now mine is at 4 1/2 turns out. Perhaps someone could clarify this for me?

All the other stuff you've mentioned has been checked and taken care off.

The RIGHT way is to use a special tool to set the height of the lean stop then adjust the rich stop to achieve the correct range of movement. I'm not sure this tool is even still available but the correct procedures are outlined in the attached. Most rebuild instructions will tell you to count the number of turns to seat the lean stop before removing it then reinstall it to the same number of turns. This would get the carburetor as close as possible to the original factory setting (provided no one has played with anything). This is probably why everyone is reporting a different number of turns out.

If you didn't count the turns before removing it and the rich stop (in the airhorn) has not been removed, you can reinstall the lean stop around 3 turns out, measure the travel then turn it in or out to get the correct range. Normally, of course, you'd be turning the rich stop to adjust the range from a "known good" lean stop setting.

If you're starting from scratch on both the lean and rich stop, set it at four turns out and you'll probably be fine. Differences of a turn or so are small enough to be corrected by the metering system and the idle mixture screws.

Awesome man. That helps a lot. I'll report back with progress as soon as I get it set.

This thread is gonna save my life when I dive into my carb.

ONEMEANLG4, Get a second q-jet from the boneyard to "dive into". Look for 1 that doesn't have worn throttle shaft bushings. Grab the cam on the dr. side of the carb that the throttle cable connects to and wiggle it. If it has too much play the throttle plates won't seal properly and this will be a problem.
they go 4 about $45. This way you can take your time, and if anything goes wrong you won't be SOL.

Yea, this thread will also help me tons when time comes to dig into mine.