Quadrajet or Demon

[70c10]

I'm a big fan of Demon carbs My dad just installed a brand new Q-jet and for his combo it couldn't be any more perfect!. I mean perfect! I had an Edelbrock on my motor that was very reliable but swapped to the Demon and the performance gain was night and day. It's held a tune for over 2 years now I know alot of people happy with Street Avengers also.

[Psycho71]

I have a q-jet too, that was on my truck when I got it. And like you say, the performance difference is night and day. I see no real difference in mileage like everyone claims. Maybe just my truck, I dunno. But I know with the Holley, it pulls much better throughout the curve, and the q-jet is a pig til she gets past 2200rpm. Then she'll pull on up there. I'm sure the q-junk needs some work, but I despise them just the same, so it sits on the shelf now.

I'll take a carb I can easily tune to MY motor any day, over one that will generically work on 50 different motors. Something in my warped mind tells me, if tuning is necessary then I'm getting all I can from the motor. If no tuning is required, am I really getting all I can from it?


But hey, it's all in how a person measures pleasure. To each their own. All are decent carbs, and have their uses.

Jay

[Jim_PA]

Originally Posted by Psycho71

But hey, it's all in how a person measures pleasure. To each their own. All are decent carbs, and have their uses.

Jay

To each their own, I agree, but it certainly is interesting to read the mis-conceptions of the "qjet haters".

A qjet should be anything but a pig to 2200, and I'm sure that's why you didn't see decent mileage with it.

Any given qjet isn't just going to work on 50 different motors. What you said about that makes no sense at all.

[Billla]

Originally Posted by Psycho71

the q-jet is a pig til she gets past 2200rpm. Then she'll pull on up there. I'm sure the q-junk needs some work, but I despise them just the same, so it sits on the shelf now.

I'll take a carb I can easily tune to MY motor any day, over one that will generically work on 50 different motors. Something in my warped mind tells me, if tuning is necessary then I'm getting all I can from the motor. If no tuning is required, am I really getting all I can from it?

There's no reason your Q-Jet sholuld be a "pig" at low RPM; as you note it "needs some work" - so comparison between a clapped out Q-Jet (as many of them are, after 40 years ) and a NEW Holley isn't quite fair - reasonable? This comes back to my comment that people swap carbs when they should just be overhauling and tuning carbs.

The Q-Jet can be tuned for just about any mild engine- but generally this requires an expert tuner, which is why most people ship 'em out. I can't imagine "tuning" without doing it on the actual car ("mail order tune"), but the Q-jet has a wide tolerance range as noted.

DEFINITELY agree that if you haven't invested in a good tune, you're not getting everything you can from your engine in terms of driveability, economy or performance regardless of the carb! I harp on this, but I've spent a lot of Saturdays with someone's "crappy carb that they're going to replace" and had them leave with a beasty

Out of the box, I find the Edelbrocks to be pretty close for SBCs making around 1HP/CID for jetting but usually require a secondary spring change, and the Holleys are ALWAYS way too rich as are the Street Demons.

An Innovate is your friend...find someone that has one

[Sport/Truck]

I just received my custom tailored Q-jet from SMI. I cant say how it runs yet, but it looks brand new!
s/t

[Big Irish]

Originally Posted by greasy68

Demon. If one of you Qjet lovers want to trade a new road demon for a busted old Qjet we can work something out.

i could probably use some parts off that Quadrajet . Some one removed the secondary linkage on mine . They say it used to be an old hotrod trick , but all it causes is the secondaries to open too fast .
Any parts like that on yours ?
Thanks

[Psycho71]

Originally Posted by Jim_PA

To each their own, I agree, but it certainly is interesting to read the mis-conceptions of the "qjet haters".

A qjet should be anything but a pig to 2200, and I'm sure that's why you didn't see decent mileage with it.

Any given qjet isn't just going to work on 50 different motors. What you said about that makes no sense at all.

I'm not a "hater". I guess I just don'r KNOW them well enough to like them very much. I've seen plenty of these carbs work just fine. It is, after-all, a matter of what someone gets used too. Not to stir the pot anymore, but how many Q-jets will you see at your local race tracks this weekend? You could count them on one hand, if you count any at all. There's a reason for that. Not that you'll see many Road Demons, or Street Avengers either. But you'll see one overall design way more often than any other. It'll be the 4150 platform.

I've got a buddy that swears by the q-jets, and he will probably end up with mine when he gets a project he's working on ready for it. He WILL rebuild though, I'm sure. If for no other reason than his own peace of mind. The q-jet I have does not black smoke, does not hesitate, choke works just fine, plugs read good, and by all other accounts works great. It just don't run as good, on my motor, as my holley does. Can it be made to do so? Sure it could. There's no doubting that. With enough tuning, maybe just a rebuild. But I put a carb on that I'm familiar with, I can tune EASILY, and I can fix, if/when it fails, with parts readily available at ANY parts house in the US.

And just to clarify, a q-jet or edle will work on 50 different motors, it just depends on how you define "different". "Different" to me is any one component being different than the motor next to it. You make changes to say a cam, comp ratio, advance curve, intake, etc, and you've got essentially a "different" motor. And thus, the tune on a performance type carb may be out the window. Where a q-jet or Edle will probably still work just fine (within limits of course). 50 was an arbitrary number, sorry if you took it literally. Personally, I'd rather have to adjust the Holley based carb to account for that change and know I'm getting what I paid for (all the HP/torque I spent my hard earned money to get).

As for mileage, I look at it this way. If the motor is tuned to where it is operating at it's peak possible capability, fuel milage will take care of itself. And I use this analogy because I liken it to real world experience I've gained in the HVAC industry. I've seen properly designed 10SEER (low effeciency) systems operate more effeciently than improperly designed 18SEER (very high effeciency) machines. It's all about design. And the variables involved. Just like in an engine.

I'm not saying one is any better than another. Like I stated in my post, all have their uses. The original poster of this thread, if he uses the votes in the poll, will choose a q-jet. And that's great. He will likely be very happy. But, IMHO, if he's spent more than $2000 on a motor, why put a generic carb on it and possibly leave some HP/Torque on the table?

And please don't take this to mean I'm an across the board Holley fan either. If you asked me about a 4160, I'd tell you to run away and never look back. But that's another thread.

Jay