Me & My '59 Apache - The Story Begins

[B52bobardier1]

Hello,

I have sent an original 1979 Rochester Quadrajet model M4MC off for a rebuild at Mountain Man Fuel Systems in Arkansas. The carburetor that sits atop the '79 donor 350 engine in this truck is a Chinese copy of an Edelbrock AVS2 that was on it when I got it and the previous owner gave me the original Q-Jet carb from the donor motor. The Q-Jet rebuild will also include a conversion to an electric choke and it appears to me that both of the vacuum break assemblies will need to be replaced - they no longer hold a vacuum. Mountain Man will also put bushings into the carb base at the throttle shafts to prevent vacuum leaks - a notorious problem for Rochester carbs.

The Chinese counterfeit carb struggles to hold a good idle at a stop sign. It quickly loads up and begins to stumble until I can get the RPM above about 1000-1100. Everything is fine after that. Externally, this carb appears identical to a no kidding Eddy AVS 2 but it has no model number, serial number or AVS adhesive sticker. I don't want to waste a bunch of time tracking down a rebuild kit for a carburetor that may be internally different than a real Edelbrock carb.

I used to think that some of my truck's drivability concerns were torque converter related but I have moved on from that suspicion. Maybe the camshaft in this motor is a little more radical than I thought - more than just a motor home RV cam?? IDK. We shall see once I get the Q-Jet back.

Rick