Figured I'd ask for help from some locals...

Alrighty the carb on my 305 is having issues. Its the reason behind a majority of my problems...I don't know alot about engines etc. So I need help.

I take my car to AZ AutoMasters... They do good work. Mike said I should get rid of the electronically controlled and go with a standard carb set up. Pretty much getting rid of the computer crap... mainly because the set up that's stock on the 86 will be super tough to tune etc.

I trust them.. But just seeing what you guys think or if you guys were in similar situations...

 

I've had the CCC Q-jet on something since 1996. Still running one.

It's a learning curve, not difficult. I so seldom touch mine that I'm not sure where the specific tools are. My only current issue is a sticky choke.

 

I'm totally torn...

Some people say ditch a the quadajet... but you'll need this this this and this...
Others say keep it because it will pass emissions and get better gas mileage.

Damn definitely should have bought a TBI or TPI. Oh well... Do they make upgrade/replacment CCC Q-jets? Or am I stuck with getting the stock one rebuilt/tuned...?

 

If you ditch the QJ, then you computer goes into limp mode and doesnt' operate like it should. The computer controls all the emissions equipment, air diverter valve, egr solenoid, charcoal canister. This means you will have a harder time passing emmissions. Not sure if the lock up on the torque converter will work either. Also you have to go to a Vac advance dist. becuase the computer controls the timing advance. there is alot more that goes into it the just throwing a new carb on. Is tuning and edelbrock or holley easier than a QJ? Yes, but you can actually get better mileage and plenty of performance out of a QJ that is tuned correctly. I'd contact a shop that rebuilds carbs and talk to them about going through your carb before making a decision. They do make parts for the QJ, jets and such, they just aren't as cheap, plentiful or as readily available.

One thing I liked about the QJ setup on my old 84, before I went to a vac advance edelbrock. Was the secondaries hit really hard on the QJ, the car didn't seem to take off as fast from a roll when I went to the edelbrock.

TPI's are not bad for a decent street driver. You can get a complete Manifold, ECU and Harness for pretty good prices. You will probably have to go to an in tank pump and a few other things, but the TPI swap might be the way to go if you wanna invest some time and money into it. I am pretty sure there are carb -> TPI threads on here.

 

Its 6 of one, a half dozen of the other, basicly gonna be alot of work either way, the REAL question is do you want to be emissions legal or not. If it means something to you, then fix the qjet, if you could care less, than ditch it. I bought my bird already hacked up with a edelbrock 1400 on it and the vac adv dizzy, and it runs ok. I had to get collector car ins to register it, tho, b/c it will never pass smog the way it is. And if something goes wrong, like last weekend, when it just shut off and would not restart, $40 for a coil and an icm got me running again, if all the cc crap was still operational, I would probably still be messing with it trying to find out what is wrong, pulling codes, chasing down white unicorns and such.

 

Thanks guys. Yeah I definitely need it to pass emissions... It's not a daily driver but it's my only car. I'm not 25, nor do I have a garage/daily driver... so collectors insurance is out the window.

Shoot. I guess I'll try to contact a few shops and see about fixing the Q-jet. Anyone have any suggestions? Phx,tempe,mesa area..

 

I know one specific tool is for the air bleed screws(idle air/fuel mixture screws) or you take the carb off screw them out with needle nose and file them so you can put a small socket on them like I did on my old 84 when I had the carb of to swap the intake manifold.

 

You can get a rebuilt Holley from Summit for $439.00 that is a direct bolt in computer carb.

 

do you have a part number/name?

 

Heres a link to the Holley Computer carb that is a direct fit.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/HLY-64-70087/

 

Awesome thanks.... I'm gonna look into gettin it. How hard do you think it is to put in?

 

Don't throw parts at your car to "fix" something unless those parts are actually broken.

A stock CCC Q-jet has 2 rivets holding a cover over the idle air bleed valve up high. It also has covers over the idle mix screws (easy to remove.)

The secondaries are very easy to loosen up. When they're tight, the Q-jet is blamed for low power.

As long as the primary side mixture control solenoid rich / lean stops are correctly set, you shouldn't need to repair or replace much.

You do need a scan tool or dwell function (6 cylinder scale) volt meter to determine what the mix solenoid is doing. 30 degrees is normal at normal altitude. At higher altitude, you'll want a bit more dwell (allows a bit less fuel.) This is read at that green plug that's not connected to anything coming off your harness.

Seriously, don't bother with a new reman. Learn your car. I'm way too "DIY; screw everyone else" but it's really not easy to find anyone who knows these carbs or sets them right.

I have extra float bowl gaskets you can have. I can dig up my tools and a Rochester book. I don't even remember how to correctly tune a Q-jet car w/out reading a little bit, but the above is stuff I remember and is accurate.

 

It's pretty easy to swap it out.

 

I had the same problem w/ the secondaries on mine, they were sticking and wouldn't open. Main body bolts were cranked down and it tweaked it and the lower blades were catching on the main body! A world of difference when you mashed the throttle after we fixed that problem!

 

Wow thanks... I definitely would love to do everything myself. But I'm not very handing with cars. I love them though...

How much does a scan tool run?

JMD where in Arizona do you live? It'd be cool to have a hand with this. I still gotta figure out what I'm gonna do. I don't know if the carb is super jacked up or if tuning (correctly) will fix it.

I think I might as well buy the book, seems like a good book to have owning a cc-q-jet car.

 

It's a direct fit right?

I'll still have to to tune it and all that huh... Probably need a scan too for that huh?

 

It would be a direct bolt in affair. It's a factory Rochester, remaned by Holley.

 

don't get those, they're crap!!!! ... you'll never tune it right... you should get it rebuilt by a shop that deals with Carbs....

 

Can anyone recommend a shop?

 

I wish I could man, Me and my dad rebuilt both my Rochester and my Edelbrock.

 

The holleys are not crap. I used one before on my old 85. It worked great.

philthyhimself if you want I could put the carb on for you. It is very easy and you could learn in the process. I see you are in Mesa and so am I. Also, I have an OBD 1 scanner. We could check out the car first before you order any parts. Just PM me your number and we can pick a weekend. I have helped out a few people in the area with diagnoising problems. Here's what I charge for my service: A simple return of the favor when I need an extra hand with a project.

 

On my '84 T/A I went from a CCC Q-jet to TPI. Easy to pass emissions, good performance, good on fuel. Relatively cheap to find complete set-ups. But you have to change over to an in-tank pump. Never have to mess with the carb again! No one here in Tucson seemed to be able to adjust it, or even want to look at it

 

Thank you everyone for your input, suggestions, offers... I greatly appreciate it all. I was seriously nervous when everyone was like QUADRAJET AH!!!! But I feel way more comfortable and learned alot already.

I'll keep you guys updated on what I do! Thanks again everyone.

 

my computer controlled Quadrajet that is currently in the car was rebuilt by a local shop that supposedly works on performance carbs... well they were the closest to getting the carb tuned correctly, granted I didn't pass smog... ... ended up taking it elsewhere and they were able to tune it far enough to get emissions within specs... well I bought at least 3 quadrajets rebuild by Holley, they come in a black box with IIRC blue "HOLLEY" lettering... well not one tech was able to adjust appropriately... one even used the green tab that is by the passenger side quarter panel.. don't remember what it is... I'd say do your homework...check your local yellow pages and or the yellow pages online, call around a few carb places and pick their brains on what course of action you should take in respect to your current options...

 

Granite Reef Auto
480-941-2474
McDowell RD & Granite Reef.
Granite Reef is between Hayden and Pima/101.

Mike over there is one of the most trustworthy guys i've ever come across. I got referred to him by a friend who's whole family has been taking their cars and trucks to him for years, and he's definitely top-notch.

Mike and his team work super-fast, saving on labor costs, but their quality of work doesn't suffer because of this. He'll even take you back into the shop to talk with you and show you exactly what's going on and what he plans to do.

I truly can't recommend them highly enough.

One quick story regarding my carb and emissions - when i bought my 83, it was missing almost ALL of the emissions equipment. I asked him to tune the carb well enough to get me through emissions regardless of the missing equipment, which was a near impossible task to be fair. I forget what he charged exactly (something like $60), but when it didn't pass emissions the first time, he let me take it back half a dozen times over the course of two weeks to keep noodling with the carb and never charged me anything more. Sure, I wound up going through emissions seven times total, but that's because I was literally riding the line between passing and failing. I kept thinking that just finding the right screw setting combination would get me through. In the end, I finally had to throw on a pair of cats, and as soon as I did, the car annihilated the requirements, coming in so low that I actually started looking up LEV requirements. heh.

Basically, I asked him to do the impossible, and he kept on working at it every time I brought my car to him, and never charged me a nickle more than the initial fee. He said he'd keep going for as many tries as it took since I paid him to "tune the carb to get me through emissions," and since if it didn't pass, he'd keep messing with it until it did.

That may not sound like a success story, but fact of the matter is, what I was asking him to do had an extremely tiny chance at success anyway, but he kept at it for a low cost, and no additional charges. The man is a saint in my book, and he'll have my business for as long as I have a car.

 

I have a TBI system if you want to switch it. We can work something out. It's just sitting here collecting dust. Let me know if you want it. I can help you out with what is needed to do the swap (shouldn't be much at all). Thanks.

Chris

 

PM sent.

Again thanks everyone. I remember everyone always buggin me... Why do you want a trans am or camaro? I would say.. not just a trans am or camaro.. it's gotta be a thirdgen, why? I'll tell you why because they are bitching and so are the people who drive them lol

Thanks guys. Sooo many choices.

 

save your $ and rebuild your carb. most aftermarket rebuilds are crap out of the box and will require more $ for tunning then they are worth. (unless your carb is total junk?)

i know this from being a tech for over 24 years.

if your looking for reliability and not performance, i would go with the factory q-jet or the edelbrock replacement.

if you need help or info, feel free to pm me.

jeff

 

Thanks.

I'm gonna find out this week I think how bad the carb itself is.. And then I gotta decide what I'm gonna do.

 

**UPDATED**

Had carb tuned by a recommended mechanic... It's better than it was. Only now having trouble with it firing up right away.

Also had a bunch of mounts (trans mount, torq arm mount) replaced cuz they were broken...

Still planning on converting to TBI with birdtojag sometime.

 

well unless you already have a TBI setup, I would recommend you go with TPI instead...

 

yeah he has one. I'd love TPI.. but there's more stuff I'd need. Plus a MAF sensor is mad expensive. I still need it to pass emissions. Because i cannot get collector insurance.

 

convert to speed density, you won't need a MAF sensor... ...

 

How hard is that? Or should I say how much?

 

the only difference I believe is the ECM and Prom... and maybe a chop here and chop there on a MAF harness...

 

What's need for speed density?

Just ECM and Prom? From what....

 

Dude I'd need so much if I did a TPI swap...

• TPI lower intake
• TPI Upper intake
• Pair of runners
• Throttle Body
• Fuel rail
• 8 injectors
• TPS sensor
• MAF/MAP sensor (or speed density)
  
• Distributer
• Wiring harness
• IAC motor
• CTS
• IAT sensor
• Knock sensor
• ECM
• PROM/MEMCAL
• fuel pump and/or sender assembly
• high pressure fuel lines
• fuel pump relay
• other needed relays (i.e. MAF relays if using a MAF system)
• Air intake system w/ filter