I have a Q Jet on my '72. Last night on my way home it quit on me. Smelled a little rich when I started it but thought nothing of it. It's a vette. Four blocks later it stalled. Never did get it running well enough to drive. Very rich and very rough and wouldn't idle. Black smoke, gas splashing out of the carb, ugly. Towed it home. : (. This morning I rapped on it with butt end of hammer and it starts and idles. A little rough but it idles on its own. It's drivable but I'm scared to take it far. Anyone have advice?

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Carburetors are voodoo to me, but if it's never been rebuilt, it's probably due for one.  It needs to go to someone who fully understands Q-jets...not all rebuilders do.  Do not...DO NOT...buy a rebuilt carburetor off-the-shelf from a parts house.  They carry generic models given a cleaning and a new kit but not made for any GM application in particular.  When I was in the auto parts business years back, rebuilt carbs had the highest rate of problems of any product we dealt with...alternators not far behind.

I had my Q-Jet rebuilt in 2008. The outfit I used was recommended to me here at C3VR.

 

The Quad Shop, LLC

5963 Linden Rd.

Rockford, Ill. 61109 - 3513

Tel. (815) 874-4884

 

Excellent rebuild! It has performed very well for the last five + years. I'd use them again if the need arises.

Feels like a few added horsepower it runs so well.

 

I've heard a few horror stories of poorly rebuilt Q-Jets. No fun. It's definitely worth it to use a quality, ruputable rebuilder for these carbs.

 

Let us know how you make out with yours.

 

Kevin

|UPDATED|8/24/2013 9:45:42 AM (AZT)|/UPDATED|

Forgot to mention it was rebuilt two months ago locally. I topped off the tank yesterday with Stinker gas. 10% ethanol. Today I took it out and drove it for over an hour. Started in neighborhood and it was a little rough. Then some 50 mph runs. Then to a pure gas station. I burned about 5 gal yesterday trying to get it going. WOW! Then some 70mph on the freeway. Runs like a champ. Crap in the gas or something more serious? Towing is no fun!

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I alway start simple. Fuel Filter ? Water and crap in the gas? Big Al

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I'm most concerned now about the white smoke out of right tailpipe last night. Only happened under heavy revving. Today one small black puff out of left upon start. Nothing out of right. This may remain a mystery since all seems normal unless that white smoke deal comes back. Maybe there was water in the system we had heavy t storms two days ago. Hmmm...

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For future ref, is this outfit spendy? I dropped $250 on my rebuild.

|UPDATED|8/24/2013 12:26:48 PM (AZT)|/UPDATED|


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Be vewy vewy careful with white smoke out of a tailpipe. Tell tale signs of a head gasket letting go. I would stay out of the high rpm range, keep a very close eye on coolant levels and temperature. If the white smoke increases, time to get to a garage...

Sounds to me like you had float stick open and allow gas to overflow everything....check it out and contact the rebuilder.

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DanT

Kinda have to agree with Danascar, sounds a bit like a float problem, if you had gas running out the top.  Been there done that... it had one of the solid plasticky foam type floats, and it was more or less sinking in the gas...  but that was a loong time ago when that happened... :)

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StingrayJim
NCM Lifetime Member #1936

Stingray's '76���������������������������� StingrayJr's '78���������������������������Lil Red '94

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Update:

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I've been thinking of putting an inline fuel filter on my car.  I'd like to put it just upstream of the gas tank in the rubber hose back there.  Do I need to look for a "suck through" filter vs a "pull through"?  Or does it matter. 

I also want to replace my bronze fuel filters on my Holley carb with paper filters that won't transfer heat from the fuel lines.  Not sure where to find these either.  I have hard lines from the pump all the way to the carb.


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Wow... your car is a lot like mine except you have an LT1. I just have a hopped up 350. Anyway, the filter I got is mostly glass. It's easy to change the elements because the body of the filter does not change, just the element. I got it at O'Reilly. It's much smaller in diameter and now it clears any hot parts by about an inch. Makes me feel much better.

|UPDATED|8/27/2013 11:05:36 AM (AZT)|/UPDATED|


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Over on the other forum, a guy said he had a glass filter and he got a bunch of replies saying get rid of the glass filter cause it can break and spill gas all over a hot engine.  Said to replace it with a metal bodied filter.

I want to put one in the rubber line back by the tank.  Then I can get rid of the "stone" filters in the carb.


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Thanks for the heads up. I would have NEVER thought the filter would be in danger of breaking. Why would someone even build something like that?

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I've used the see-thru filters on several vehicles with no problem. Had one on the Sneezle Mercedes for years, and have one on my Goldwing now. If they are not allowed to bang up against anything, OR if they are not tightened too tight when screwing the ends on, I don't see how they would break. The one on the Goldwing pretty much just lays on top of the engine case with no problems.
All that being said, a regular metal filter is definitely safer in the long run, but the see-thrus with replaceable elements are fine.

As far as the bronze in-carb filters, I prefer those to the paper ones....the bronze ones can be cleaned/reused. I can't see being a bronze material would really pass any more heat to the fuel than the metal fuel lines, or the carb bowls....unless I'm missing something there.
Installing a filter back by the tank is iffy, in most cases, with a mechanical fuel pump. The best thing for that is to use as small of one as possible....the less volume the pump has to suck the fuel thru the better. A filter with a large canister can work the pump a little more than normal to get the fuel started thru it, since the filter will always have a small amount of air in it.


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Joel Adams
C3VR Lifetime Member #56    
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