Carb Size

[1985K10]

What size carb should I put on my stock 350? And whats better, Edelbrock, or Holly? Oh, and I have headers, true duals, no A.I.R., and no cats.

[1985K10]

Would a Eddy 1904 be a good carb? Its $532, but I shouldnt have to buy a pile of useless adaptors like with the 1406.

[swervin ervin]

Wow. I didn't know the 1904's had got so dang high. Summit has them for $475.95 before shipping. I believe I paid $419 for mine a few years back. Shop around for the best price before laying your money down. I imagine they will be along the Summit prices or higher no matter where you get it.

Anyway, yes the 1904 is a great carb. I wouldn't trade it for two 1406's. It will out perform them and get better mileage. As to if you should buy it, it's up to you. I love mine and would buy it again. And as you say, it's a direct bolt on. Adjust the idle mixture screws to get best idle and be on your way.

[1985K10]

Its $532 at the local Advance Auto, I havent really shopped around yet. My truck always smells like gas, after a drive and its parked I can smell gas, while at a stop light I can smell gas, and when i rev it theres a slight stumble followed by a little black smoke. Ill look around, maybe I'll go pick one up tommarow.

[swervin ervin]

Why not try a rebuild on your old Q-jet first? It may fix your problem and save you some money. Not hard to do.

[1985K10]

Well my truck is an driver so Id be without a vehicle. Unless a rebuild can be done by a first-timer in 2 days!

[swervin ervin]

If you are mechanically inclined, you can do it real easy. It's not hard at all. Just pay attention to where everything came from and make notes. The instruction sheet has a good exploded view to help. Most of the adjustments you don't mess with anyway, unless you have all the fancy tools needed to do them. Most of this stuff won't go out of adjustment anyway. Biggest thing you need to check is the float level. Check the choke pulloffs to make sure they will hold vacuum and not leak. This is easy. Just push in on the linkage and cap your finger over the tube. Let go of the linkage and it should stay put. It might move out a very small amount and then stop.

One thing that will help a lot is a book you can buy at Autozone or Advance by Haynes. It's in the Techbook series called Rochester Carburetor Manual. With the book and instruction sheet, it would be a snap. Your stock Q-jet has hardened plugs covering the idle mixture screws. You use a hacksaw and cut a couple grooves in the base plate and break them out with a hammer and punch. The instruction sheet shows how to do this. Then the screws don't have screwheads. They have a funky oval shaped thing with flat sides. They sell a tool to fit these. I'm pretty sure Pepboys sell them. Advance may too. You could do like I did and make one out of a piece of 1/4" tubing mashed flat on two sides. The screw type thing under the power piston is what you want to make sure to put back at the same setting. It's called a APT screw and is right beside the power piston and is used to stop how far vacuum will pull the piston down. If this thing gets out of wack, you can get in a mess real quick. Turn it in and count how many turns it takes before bottoming out. This way you can put it back in and back it out the turns you counted and it will be right. It's usually around 2 to 2-1/2 turns out. You will also need to by a gallon of carb dip. This comes in a can with a metal basket to dip the metal parts in. Reason is, for sure you don't want to put your hands in it.

Biggest thing is get it clean. Buy a rebuild kit and a new float. The floats don't come in the kits. The dip is about 25 bucks a gallon but well worth it. Advance won't have the dip, but you can get it at NAPA. Let's see, a kit will be around $25.00, carb dip around $25.00, and the float is $7.00 or $8.00. A lot cheaper than a new carb.

Like I say, if you are mechanically inclined, you can do it. Heck, chevychic (Heather) did it. Of course there's not many women around like her. She is a little mechanical wiz. I have several pics on my PC I took for Heather. When you get started, I'll help all I can. You can email or PM me and ask anything you need help with.

Now, if you don't mind spending 500 bucks on a new carb, you won't regret buying the 1904. I've never regretted buying mine. It's a great carb and real hard to beat. A rebuilt Q-jet, as long as it's in good mechanical shape and not totally worn out, will last a long time. Most of what goes wrong with these things is dirt and gaskets. The tiny passages get clogged up with gunk and metering air and fuel is almost impossible. If the throttle shafts are worn, they even sell bushing kits for this.

[KutThroatKustoms]

I didnt fully read the post above this. but from what some carb builders told me, only certain quadrajunks will accept a rebuild kit. Meaning you can rebuild them over and over and never fix them, only a certain number of models can be rebuilt and work.

But a new carb is always better then a rebuilt carb. Your carb begins to wear and just isnt worth anything even after being rebuilt. My quad needed rebuilding, i was getting ~6mpg on my 454, rebuilt it, i get a whole 9mpg now, on a good day. I used a friends brand new carb (edelbrock 750), i got 13mpg without anything else... so i'm p[ersonally gonna get a new carb.

[swervin ervin]

Bobby,

I agree on the part about rebuilt not being anywhere near as good as new. But the part about certain Q-jets (not Quadrajunks) being rebuildable is false. I see you have talked to carb rebuilders who don't fully know what they are talking about. Every, and I mean every, Q-jet is rebuildable. I have rebuilt a ton of them. Only once was I sorry for touching one. It was one the guy had bought from Autozone. It was so butchered from the previous rebuilding company (and I say that lightly), it was just about to the point of being unrebuildable. I could have fixed it, but it would have cost more than it was worth. Never ever buy a rebuilt Q-jet from any autoparts store.

[KutThroatKustoms]

Ah okay. It was various builders, I guess they just dont care for them. I called it a q-junk b/c I dont like mine, my truck felt better with the edelbrock and my monte carlo has a summit q-jet and it doesnt feel like its where i think it could be with a different carb, but that is just what my experience is.

Sorry to take over the thread for a sec... but what do you think of a Road Demon JR 625 on a stock/kinda mild 350 ? think it would feed it enough with vortec heads?

[1985K10]

A rebuild sounds easy and cheap, but so I may just get the 1904. It says its a direct bolt-on, with all emission hook-ups. Is this true? I have a 700R4 tranny so the linkage needs to be correct. I bought a 1406 and tried putting that on......EGR in the way, intake and carb bore didnt match, I don't want that again, especially after $532! Thanks for the info!

[greg0380]

Anthony,
I read your thread. If you go with the new edlebrock and want to offset the price, I'd buy your old qjet off ya! I need one for my 85.

[swervin ervin]

Bobby, no hijack. We are talking about carbs.

By the way, I could make that Q-jet put a gigantic smile on your face every time you put your foot in it. For a few bucks in parts and very little work, it will work better than any square bore carb made on the street. Great gas mileage and plenty of power when you need it. As for rebuilders not liking them. This is because they don't understand them. They tell everyone they are junk because they don't know how to properly tune it or rebuild it.


Anthony,

the 1904 is a direct bolt on. No hacking needed. Like I say, the most you will need to do is adjust the idle mixture screws. Of course the idle speed will need to be set to what you like. The choke will be real close, but you may need to set it to your climate. I believe it's set when you get it at the middle. This is needed for any carb. Minor things like this is always needed when changing carbs. There isn't one setting for every vehicle, climate or engine. If you decide to the the 1904, you won't regret it.

Mike

[1985K10]

$560 later....I will be getting the 1904 carb tommarow, and promptly putting it on.
Another story.... This morning I went for a ride and ever since I left my house I smelt gas, which i thought was just the carb. I jumped on the highway and had the 4-barrel kicked in and at about 55-60 it felt like I kept letting off the gas, and the truck almost died. After ordering my new carb I went up a steep hill and the truck was doing the same thing, with the gas smell. So I get home, pop off the air cleaner. Well, there was a puddle of gas on the intake manifold, right under the cracked gas line!!! 74cent fix, glad it didnt burn up!