Hey guys,

I need some help. I've never swapped a carb before. Here's where I stand.

My 84 has an Edelbrock on it, and the computer is not hooked up. All the wiring is still there. The distributor is the computer controlled one, so I feel I should just put the stock carb back on.

So, I picked up a rebuilt Q-jet, and I want to put it back on, and hook the computer back up, and make my car run the way it should run, throwing no codes.

My question is, how hard is it to install the stock carb? What really is involved? I am a fairly mechanically inclined person, but I've just never done a carb install. Any help would be appreciated!

 

There are a lot of possibilities that would be hard to cover without seeing exactly what has been done to put the Edelbrock on. But, since the harness wasn't butchered, that's a good sign.

The biggest things are going to be the connections, not the mounting. For mounting: If an adapter was used to mount the squarebore, take it off. The front two bolts on the q-jet are long skinny things, so you'll need them. The back are studs, pretty standard stuff.

The things that go to the carb include cable links, vacuum controls, power brake vacuum, power for choke & high idle solenoid, and the two computer connectors. Hopefully the vacuum routing diagram is still there under the hood someplace.

Do you have a factory air cleaner? What were you planning there?

Too bad you didn't ask sooner. I was in San Jose Sunday PM to Tuesday AM this past week...

 

Damn, that figures. About the air cleaner, I'm hittin GM Salvage tomorrow morning, to see if I can get an air cleaner. The car has to pass smog next month too.

Think I'll be able to pick up the four bolts at the yard also?

The vacuum diagram is still there. As for the connections, nothing looks cut, there are about three to four sets of wires just sitting on the top of the intake looking like they need hooking up. So I'm assuming that's the wires that hook up the choke and go to the carb. The brake vacuum is there as well.

 

Don't know about your salvage yards, but I rarely see carbs on an engine around here. But, they may have the bolts. If not, they aren't anything fancy, just Grade 5 (I'd have to get one out and measure it to say how long - perhaps someone else can respond).

There should be 4 electrical connectors if you have the high idle solenoid. Most rebuilt carbs don't include that, and it isn't a big deal unless you have/use AC.

Nothing would be finer than finding a dual snorkel air cleaner. Good luck on that, though.

 

I'll keep my eyes out for the bolts, and definitely crossing my fingers on that cleaner assembly!

Don't use A/C either, so I guess that's one check off the checklist. Thanks for your help so far!