The adventure continues…

[7173Vert]

.....

 

[Mach1s]

Touché

 

[midlife]

Ouch...you deleted your original post?  I was interested in your rochester carb adventures...

 

[timachone]

.....

?!?

 

[rio1856]

:classic_huh:

 

[c9zx]

Why incommunicado? Chuck

 

[7173Vert]

.....

So… I went silent on my carb issues until I had something to say that wasn’t just complaining lol. I have been working hard behind the scenes to address my Q-Jet woes on this car. 
 

As I have learned and really, I already knew when I first purchased the carb in 2017, it is always a crapshoot when you purchase a 46 year old carb that meets your requirements for #’s and date code matching and has been concours rebuilt to look pretty. It looked good but ran like shi_, no matter how we tried to tune the carb on my engine. Cue my search for a GM oriented rebuild specialist and I thought I had found one with a company called Quadrajet Performance in Texas. They were difficult to talk too and really did not want to discuss the issues I was having before taking the carb apart. They rebuilt it as they saw fit. Of course after hundreds of $$ spent , it still ran like shi_ when I put it back on the engine. Slightly better, but you can see the results when you look at my spark plugs in the photo. That was 10 minutes of run time… I was still determined to find someone who could help me get the carb to work. I simply refuse to alter the originality of the car after all the work I put into it in its restoration. This is why it has sat in my garage for almost 4 year since I completed the restoration…

I Joined a Rochester Q-Jet Facebook page, probably the only Ford guy on there lol. I have to say this group was awesome to talk too and offered a lot of help. One man in particular, Ray Klemm stood out as extremely knowledgeable as to my issues. I was to learn that he had and still does work with Cliffs Performance Carburetor’s out of Ohio (wish I had come across his site first...). Cliff is well known as one of the guru's on the Q-Jet carburetor scene in the GM world. Ray and Cliff are friends and still work together when issues such as mine pop up. Together they went through my carb, and rebuilt it to match the specifics of my rebuilt 429cj engine. In reality, you build a carb to match the engine, not the engine to match the carb, right? They then ran the carburetor on a test engine to confirm its proper operation. 
 

I won’t get into specifically what they did to the carb, but it was extensive. Carburetor guys know that every little tweak can significantly alter how the engine will run. The Q-Jet is just a precise and finicky piece of equipment…I’ll post some of that info a bit later.

For now, after talking to Ray on the phone yesterday, the carburetor is being returned to me today and I should have it in a week or so. Car guys are awesome when it comes to helping other car guys, no matter what Brand of vehicle you subscribe too. Ray and Cliff worked on my carb at no labour and time spent costs to me…  Ray was sympathetic to my trials and tribulations and just genuinely wanted to help me finally resolve my concerns. Shipping and a couple new parts, that’s it, for a total of $85… If anyone is interested, PM me and I will provide Ray's contact info in case there are any other 429 Q-Jet guys here looking for expertise in this area. 
 

What I do know today, is that all my years of frustration with this carburetor was warranted. It wasn’t my ability or lack thereof to be able to tune it; the carb was simply not built to run on my engine as is. 
 

The true test comes when I reinstall it on my CJ engine and fire it up. I’ll update you further at that time

 

[72MustangSprint]

Fingers crossed that your carb nightmare is over..thx for the update.

 

[timachone]

Wow, Ken, that is so great to hear! Hope, yours runs good now as expected after you will have installed it again. Please keep us posted about the details of the improvements they made. And what's with the 4300D? Weren't there some quite similar issues or is it all done? 

 

[7173Vert]

Wow, Ken, that is so great to hear! Hope, yours runs good now as expected after you will have installed it again. Please keep us posted about the details of the improvements they made. And what's with the 4300D? Weren't there some quite similar issues or is it all done? 

Thx. Yes the 4300D finally bit the dust and I was able to find a local rebuild shop that rebuilt the carb. So, far so good, car has been running fine. 

 

[timachone]

Thx. Yes the 4300D finally bit the dust and I was able to find a local rebuild shop that rebuilt the carb. So, far so good, car has been running fine. 

Good to hear. At least this shop has done it's work right! Hope, you can enjoy the rides now! 

 

[71coop]

Ruggles did a Q-Jet rebuild for my hot-rodded corvette years ago - good guy, and knows a ton. Another equally proficient Q-Jet expert (but be aware he's a Pontiac and Corvette guy) is Lars Grimsrud out of Colorado - but he knows his stuff. Both have helped me out with carb and timing issues.

 

[7173Vert]

Ruggles did a Q-Jet rebuild for my hot-rodded corvette years ago - good guy, and knows a ton. Another equally proficient Q-Jet expert (but be aware he's a Pontiac and Corvette guy) is Lars Grimsrud out of Colorado - but he knows his stuff. Both have helped me out with carb and timing issues.

Any good Q-Jet rebuilder would be well versed on all the GM/Pontiac etc muscle cars from back in the day. However, finding someone that can understand this offshoot Q-Jet that was built specifically for the 70-71 Ford 429cj car’s requires someone like Cliff Ruggles and Ray Klemm as well as possibly the guy you mention who fully understand all the nuances of the Q-Jet carb line up. As for the Ford version of the carb, they are built slightly different then any other Q-Jet made. Finding these rare experts today is becoming more and more difficult with time. I know Cliff is slowing down on the day to day rebuild aspect hence, why Ray has picked up 80% of his previous business. It’s always nice when you can find that one guy who is that knowledgeable in your concern to help you move forward. It just took me a long time… 

 

[c9zx]

I'm glad you got both carbs sorted out. Chuck

 

[7173Vert]

Received my carb back from Ohio yesterday. Should have been a good day picking up the package from the mail box. Yep, you know where this is going anytime a reference is made to the Post Office… In this case I can’t determine the culprit as both Canada Post and USPS were in the return delivery mix… When you first look at a box returned to you and it has that accordion appearance, you know it has had a rough trip home. Quite literally it appears this box was dropped from a four story building onto concrete… Look at that fuel filter! (Next post, could not fit all the photos into one post…). How the front of the carb wasn’t damaged further with that type of impact is amazing. Only some good packing internally prevented further and catastrophic damage to this rare and in my case, expensive carburetor. Of course, all of the accelerator linkage was bent and I painstakingly straightened it out again. Doesn’t appear to be any damage to the throttle shafts or any other sensitive internal parts. When you pay top $$$ to have expedited postage you hope it will be treated with respect… This was my biggest fear, anytime you send a part like this off and rely on people to do their job with respect for their customers… I guess I dodged a bullet, sort of… Now to return the carburetor to the car to see if my friend South of Border was finally able to help me correct the internals to match my engine. I’ll let you know the results. 
 

Happy July 4th to everyone celebrating!

 

[7173Vert]

Received my carb back from Ohio yesterday. Should have been a good day picking up the package from the mail box. Yep, you know where this is going anytime a reference is made to the Post Office… In this case I can’t determine the culprit as both Canada Post and USPS were in the return delivery mix… When you look at a box and it has that accordion appearance, you know it has had a rough trip home. Quite literally it appears this box was dropped from a four story building onto concrete… Look at that fuel filter! How the front of the carb wasn’t damaged further is amazing. Only some good packing internally prevented further and catastrophic damage to this rate and in my case, expensive carburetor.Of course, all of the accelerator linkage was bent and I painstakingly straightened it out again. Doesn’t appear to be any damage to the throttle shafts or any other sensitive internal parts. When you pay top $$$ to have expedited postage you hope it will be treated with respect… This was my biggest fear, anytime you send a part like this off and rely on people to do their job with respect for their customers… I guess I dodged a bullet, sort of… Now to return it to the car to see if my friend South of Border corrected the internals to match my engine. I’ll let you know the results. 
 

Happy July 4th to everyone celebrating!

View attachment 52809

View attachment 52810

Here is the fuel filter as revived installed in the carburetor…

 

[7173Vert]

The corrected setup after addressing the shipping issues…

 

[jpaz]

Wow, unbelievable! To many people just don’t care about other people’s stuff. I sure hope hope nothing else is damaged and your carb is working properly. 

 

[clevelandcoupe]

Just another reason why the USPS is a money eating machine that is always hungry and has **** service.....

Thanks, Jay