cardork

Okay, so right now, I've got a 305 with the quadrajet in my Camaro. It's a really hard starting car when it's cold but runs fine otherwise. I'm going to be doing an ignition tune-up this weekend and we'll see how that affects the cold-start issue. But, from what I've read on here, if it's not the ignition, it's probably the carubretor (which is my suspicion.) If it is the carburetor, I was thinking about going with a non-computer controlled carb because I plan on swapping in a 350 later and I was thinking maybe I could use the same carburetor from my 305 in the 350 I plan on swapping in. Does this make any sense? From what I've read, rebuilding the quadrajet sounds like a pain and, for the cost of a new/rebuilt one, I could get a nice Holley carb. What do you guys think? Is it hard to get rid of the quadrajet?

RB83L69

Not particulary hard; but it is pointless.

A rebuild kit is about $30. Hard to buy a Holley, and a non-computer distributor, and a torque converter lockup switch, for that. The carb is not hard to rebuild.

There's no reason you can't use the stock carb on a 350.

The reason for hard cold starts is probably something to do with the choke. Either it's not working at all, or it's coming on and its vacuum pull-off isn't pulling it off once the engine starts, or you're not starting it right. It's also possible that the carb leaks all its gas out overnight, and you have to crank it long enough in the morning, to refill it with fuel; which is easily fixed with some JB Weld during a rebuild.

Correct starting technique is to push the gas pedal slowly all the way to the floor a couple of times, then turn the key. If the outside temp is below freezing, you might have to push the gas 4 times; if it's below zero, maybe 6 times. The car should start right up, idle at 1200-1400 RPMs for a couple of minutes, and then after you give it a bit of gas, drop down to normal idle.

An aftermarket carb isn't going to be any easier to start up when cold, in fact it will almost certainly be more trouble.

cardork

When I do swap in the 350, it will be a built engine with heads, cam, etc. I'm shooting for at least 300hp. Will the quadrajet be able to flow enough to keep all of that running well?

Crayz9000

I'm almost certain that the Quadrajet can handle that. It's probably one of the best carburetor designs built.

http://www.mergetel.com/~fraso/RasoE...arburetion.htm

The relevant part:

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

Can a q-jet handle 300 HP? The factory used them on bigger engines than that.

Can a CC q-jet handle 300 HP? The factory put together a conversion kit using the 355 HP ZZ4 crate engine to put that in the '82-'87 Camaros using the original CC q-jet.

Don't give up on a good thing without good cause.

cardork

Hehehe. It seems like everyone on the board is absolutely in love with the quadrajet. Is there any particular reason why? I personally don't really have any preference. Whatever is easiest and gives me the most power. I noticed that browsing around the messages before I posted that people really seemed to like their quadrajets.

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

Not in an absolute sense, but if power and cost are your goals, replacing the q-jet won't get you there. The q-jet will make all the power possible with a 305, so changing the carb won't improve on that. And, it sounds like it has a fairly simple issue (choke) causing the problem you're having, which should cost a lot less to fix than replacing the carb.

So, fix the q-jet.

NoTransistors

It is a wonderful carb, but the tiny accelerator pump is very poor. This combined with a computerized spark curve kind of stink. Would be nice to know if this could be improved upon. I once had a very attractive '77 New Yorker Brougham Coupe' with a 440/ 750CFM single pumper-vacuum secondary Holley/ Mallory ignition. 5,500 pounds of jet-assisted unit-body lounge chair. Straight-line acceleration was incredible. And, the carb + distributor cost less than $300. I really miss it.

Seth

RocBoy

iTrader: (1)

I have an 85 iroc with 350 when I swap out the 305 I put a preformer intake and a holly 600cfm 1850 m/c on this combo is very good . But my orginal intake was aluminum dule plane which is very simular . I regret striping all the emissions stuff off. Put the 350 in and keep your stock carb intake and emishions stuff for that stock look/sleeper rebulid the quadrajunk and good luck whith your prodject.