What to expect from carburetors?

High maintenance?

This will be my first carb ever.

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Brett

'94 Z28 (Polo Green) 47K miles, 4L60E A4,
2.73s, T-tops, Power Everything.
Bone Stock Until Next Spring.
Soon To Replace The Berlie
'87 Camaro SC/LT (Blue) 5.0L V8 4bbl,
108K miles, 3.23s, T-5 M5.
'85 Berlinetta (maroon) 2.8L V6, 166K miles,
3.42s, TH700R4 A4, Delco Rapidfire Plugs,
Wells 8mm wires, Dual Exhaust.
The Tranny Died

 

Anybody?

 

It depends on some factors, what type of disributer are you using? If it is the original, it will only work for the computer controlled quadrajet. If not the choices are vast. I went with edelbrock because of cost and milage. You will probibly get the best milage from the quadrajet.

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1983 Camaro Z28
Goodwrench 350ci V8, Edelbrock TES Headers, Flowmaster Catback, MSD 6al and Blaster 2 coil, Edelbrock Performer intake, Edelbrock Performer 600cfm carb. T5, 373 rear, Eibach springs, Cervin Vega speakers, Rock. Fos. Sub, Pioneer CD,
email-chris4421@hotmail.com
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"I used to be a Mustang Guy! I didn't know the power of the dark side!!"

 

Mine had 123k miles when I started driving it in Sept '99. I've driven it daily since, putting on 13k miles so far. I did nothing to the carb except set the idle speed when getting it running, and have done nothing since except adjust the idle speed after trying different initial timing settings. The adjustment covers had been removed when I got it, so someone did something in the past (I have no idea about former owners - the donor car was an insurance total). Oh, I did change the secondary rods & hanger for better power and transition to WOT. It passed the Colorado dyno emissions test with what they call "fast pass" (emissions low enough that the full test was not required).

I put in new plugs, replaced the intake valve seals soon after getting it running. Since then, oil change and gas ups - nothing else. And, ran it Fridays throughout the summer at Bandimere Speedway (12th out of ~120 racers in one class, tied for 14th out of over 200 racers in another class for the season). It gets about 20-21 mpg commuting during the summer (slightly lower if I've been to the track during the week), about 18-19 mpg commuting during the winter. It goes about 3000 miles on a quart of oil, better when it hasn't been to the track. It has never failed to start, and has never left me somewhere I didn't want to be.

If that is "high maintenance", on a 15-year-old powertrain, then so be it.

What did you really want to know: Are they hard to keep running? Or, what to do to make them better?

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82 Berlinetta, orig V-6 car, now w/86 LG4/TH700R. 2.73 unlimited slip. Cat-back from '91 GTA, Accel HEI SuperCoil. AMSOIL syn lubes bumper-to-bumper. Daily driver, work-in-progress (LB9 w/ZZ3 cam, TBD heads, exhaust, paint, etc.).
57 Bel Air, my 1st car. 0.030 over 396, Weiand Action+, Edelbrock 1901 Q-Jet, Jacobs Omnipack, 1-3/4" headers, TH400 w/TCI Sat Night Special conv & shift kit, 3.08 10-bolt, AMSOIL syn lubes bumper-to-bumper. Best 15.1 @ 5800' Bandimere. Daily driver while Camaro was being put together.