Hey Guys,

My car came with the pictured Edelbrock carb. I'm having problems with it, both vacuum and m.p.g. I've tried tuning it, but I can't turn in the mixture screws further than four turns. I started them at 2 turns out, and the car wouldn't run. The closest I could get is 4 turns, and it gets horrible gas mileage, and it blows some smoke on startup. It also diesels sometimes before turning off the motor.

My question is this. I just picked up a stock cc Q-Jet that was rebuilt. I'm looking to see what you guys think I should do, if I should go back to stock or stick witih the Edelbrock?

I kinda wanna go back to stock, so I can hook up all my vacuum lines and all the wiring.

Tell me what you guys think. It's an 84 L69.

Thanks!

 

The first big question is if the wiring, connections, and ECM for the cc setup are still there or not.

The second big one is if the distributer was changed to a non-cc unit when the carb was or not.

 

And for *** sakes, get rid of that POS Triangle of death before it gets sucked into the motor and does some real damage.

 

It looks like all the wiring is there becuase there are quite a few wires that are just "chillin" near the carb. As for the distributor, how do I tell which one it is?

And I know about the air cleaner, I'm gonna rip that fugger off when I get one from the junk yard.

 

Theres more to tuning than just the carb, and theres more to tuning a carb than just messing the with the mixture screws blindly. Like jester mentioned, what about the dist, computer controls, etc. Theres a good possibility the car is running with just base timing. On top of that, it looks like that carb is adapted to the stock manifold which is a crappy situation. The stock manifold has individual holes to meet the barrels of a spread bore carb. The edelbrock is a square bore carb and thus there is big mismatch.

First figure out what you have, whether or not its a square bore manifold or not, or mechanical dist

If its a stock manifold either swap the manifold or get a spread bore carb for it (q jet) The carb on there is probably fine youve just not really done any tuning on it and even if you did the combo is probably bad anyways. If you want to learn how to tune that carb or any carb you should make a point of reading their respective owners manual or getting a book on the subject. They are pretty easy for even a beginner to understand. In the case of holley and edelbrock, their manuals are online at their websites.

 

Being in San Jose, I assume you have to go through smog inspection/testing. That setup won't cut it. You need the CC q-jet, CC distributor (won't have a vacuum can on it, will have a flat 4-wire connector coming from the base of the distributor going to the wiring harness), and a snorkel-type air cleaner with the thermo-vac setup.

 

Yeah, I know about the smog! That's my other reason!

The manifold is stock. And as for the timing, the best we could get it was 16* advanced. We couldn't get it anywhere close to 6. When I got the car, it was running at 40*!

So I think I'm just gonna go back stock. I'll check the distributor and let you guys know.

 

To check the timing, you have to disconnect the 4-wire plug that comes out of it. It usually makes about 15° difference or so.

The car will usually run a whole lot better with more timing; but it won't pass inspection that way. It's going to need to be within a couple of degrees of the spec.

It's really too bad that somebody took off the best F-body air cleaner for a carb that there is, and put on that stupid piece of crap. You really got nicked on that one.

 

Ohhhhh! I didn't know about disconnecting the plug. We'll try it again! thanks alot for the heads up!

RB, got any pics of your L69?

 

It's not the greatest, but it is what it is.

 

I need to get one of those dual snorkel air cleaner assemblies. A question about that though, is that exact assembly stock with the power bulge hood? I thought they had like a little ram air effect or something?

Also, I looked at my distributor, it looks like it has five wires coming out of it?

 

well, for one, if you are running a computer controled distrib and that carb, that thing can't run worth a darn.

The easiest way to tell if it is a CC distrib or not is "do you see a vacuum line from the carb going to the carb?"

get that Q-jet on there and tune from there. HTHs

 

"do you see a vacuum line from the carb going to the carb?"

do mean from the distributor to the carb?

 

yes, from distrib to carb. If you do then you have the correct distib. If not then you are most likely running a CC distrib and that is no good for a non CC carb. Without the CCC Q-Jet, you are missing the TPS and the MCS sensor/solenoid. Your SES light should be on in the car.

 

Yes, it is! And I hate that! So, I can do either of two things.

1) Put the Q-Jet back on, and fine tune. Hookup all wiring correctly.

or

2) Put on a new intake, and get the correct non-cc distributor for the non-cc Edelbrock.

What is most effective? I guess what I really want to know is if the Q-Jet really makes the car move.

I'm fairly poor, and already have a rebuilt Q-Jet. Let me know your thoughts...

 

If you want it to run well and perform better, go the non-cc path and get a new manifold and vaccume dist. (I can't believe that they are running the CC dist with that carb!!!!) readjust your timing to proper specs, and tune the carb.

On the other hand, if you need to pass emmissions, find the right CC carb (I have one if you need it) and readjust that with all your engine electrical systems.

Hope this helps,

 

CCC Q-jet all the way. One of the best designed carbs yet SO misunderstood.

Tuning on a CCC Q-jet is pretty simple. It takes about 1 hr to effectively tune the Q-jet for bet setting. The best part is it is the ONLY legal way to do it. To meet proper emissions standards, you must run it.

I can help you get it tuned out. How familiar are you with the Q-jet?

 

Not familiar with it at all! I'll be slapping the puppy on in two weeks (going out of town), so I'll hit you guys up with questions regarding tuning when I get it on.