Three weeks ago, I sent the QJ off my '84 Trans AM to a rebuilder near Oshawa On. It was returned this past Wednesday. I installed it & the car started up with a little fuel I dumped into the vent tube to the fuel bowel. The cold start fast idle was @ 2000 rpm & hot idle was @ 1000 rpm. I actually expected that.
I had to test drive it as is and it was not good. Back home, I reset the hot idle to 750 rpm and next morning set cold start idle to 1000 rpm. Today, I took the car for a run of 25 minutes & it ran great. This T/A will go even with only 150 hp! Seems to like 70 mph!
Still have to set the idle jets with my vacuum gauge.

 

Excellent. I hope my luck is as good when I receive the Q-jet I recently ordered.
If not, I'm just gonna say "screw it" and buy a spreadbore Holley...

 

Happy to hear the Q-JET is coming along well. Definitely more challenging to get fully sorted.

Definitely for driving liked a correctly tuned Q-Jet better than a correctly tuned Holley or Demon. Well tuned Q-Jet's are as close to fuel injection friendly driving with a carb as I've seen. Biggest regret with my Vette's Dart 400 was the Lars tuned Q-Jet had to be replaced with a Demon that's always just a little grumpier with cold starts & warm up.

 

Common carburetors, in order of personal preference:

1) QuadraJet;

2) ThermoQuad;

3) AFB.

 

Cliff Ruggles rebuilt the Q-Jet for my '69 Firebird, and it was an amazing carb for my setup. Always started right up and got decent fuel economy.

 

A spread bore fan, eh? Me too.

 

I talked to Cliff last week. He is semi-retired now and won't even touch a "remanufactured" carb like mine, so that wasn't an option for me...

 

When setup "properly" and finely Tuned by a Professional...
The Quadra-Jet can be a fantastic Carburetor!

...Even the CCC versions can be "Altered", setup "properly", finely Tuned, and become a great Carburetor!

When getting wilder with "Street Engines"/ "Street Cars"...
a Quadra-Jet can leave "Peak Performance" on the table (especially compared to a 4150 that has no Air-Horn)...
but still be a great Carburetor none the less!


There are several qualities that i like about the Quadra-Jet...
But I absolutely LOVE the transition and opening of the Secondary-Butterflies under a load!

I do not know if any of you have experimented with converting to Mechanical-Secondaries...
DAMN!!!
It is like turning the feeling of the Vacuum-Secondaries opening, up to 11!

 

Demon (Not Barry Grant... But Holley) was producing a Carb that reminded me of a Thermo-Quad.


I have never had one apart, so I do not know if it is similar or not.
It could be more similar to an AFB/ AVS... anyone know?

I just finished restoring a Carter WCFB... Any fans here?


And I am working on a Quadra-Jet now...
I just finished some Soda-Blasting, and will be Electro-Plating and Sealing small parts next:

 

question

I see some shiny parts that would normally be green

can a hobbyist re-coat these in the factory 'teflon' coating or something similar?

 

Absolutely.

If you were asking about the Green Parts on Quadra-Jet...
I complete this step in the Electro-Plating Process.

 

I remember that WCFB used to really scream on a 327 with the air cleaner off. And you could get a HP boost with one off a big Olds or Buick.