OK, I've got an 84 L69. I've put on a 650 cfm quadrajet off of a 73 Chevy. The over all performance is much less than that of my CC carb. Not to mention poor starting. It acts as if it's always flooded.

What do I need to adjust and how to make this thing "wake up"?

 

Did you put on a vacuum/mechanical advance distributor when you put on the carb? If not, you're not getting any advance.

What exactly do you mean by it acts as if it's always flooded? Can you smell gas, or is it just rich burning, what?

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82 Berlinetta, orig V-6 car, now w/86 LG4/TH700R. 2.93 limited slip. Cat-back from '91 GTA, Accel HEI SuperCoil. AMSOIL syn lubes bumper-to-bumper. Daily driver, work-in-progress (LG4 w/LB9 block, ZZ3 cam and intake, WP 305 heads ported & polished, Hooker headers & y-pipe, 3" Catco cat).
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 & Trans-Scat shift kit, 3.08 10-bolt w/Powertrax, AMSOIL syn lubes bumper-to-bumper. Best 15.1 @ 5800' Bandimere. Daily driver while Camaro was being put together.

 

I did install a vaccum advance distributor, HEI of course.

What I mean is you have to floor the pedal to start it, pumping won't work, neither will just cranking it.

It's not running too rich or anything, and I can't smell the gasoline, and once it is warm it works fine. The choke works also.

The carb just provides no punch at all. I've reinstalled the old carb while I play with this one.

Any ideas?

 

How long has it been since that Q-Jet was rebuilt? 1973 and 1974 were horrible years because of EPA demands outrunning GM's R&D for emissions control. The cat converter wasn't on cars until 1975. Those carbs sucked when they were new!

Spark advance curves are very important for that "linear" throttle response. Either the vacuum advance is no good or the advance is too slow or a combination of both. Be sure the vacuum advance is plugged into a manifold or full-time vacuum port.

Rebuild that carb and put in some different metering rods. I'd suggest rods specified for any Q-jet equipped SBC or BBC that was installed in heavy trucks i.e. 3/4 ton and over. They were calibrated for power and not emissions. If you can't find those, then try the rods for Corvette Q-jets.