My 72 Skylark presently has a 2 barrell carb, and I'd like to change it over to a 4 barrell. Plus upgrade from a manual choke to auot choke. Will any GM 350 q-jet from 72 work? Or do I need to stay specific to just Buick? Good place to track down a rebuild kit? Any other tips fellow Skylark lovers can add...any and all would be much appreciated!!! :TU:
A Pre 74 Q-jet from about any application will do you fine, even a later model Q-jet would be fine. All you have to do is get the correct jets and tune it accordingly. An electric choke kit is available anywhere, but the 4 barrel intake you buy should have provisions for a choke. Good luck..:beer
You'll need to change the intake manifold to a 4 bbl unit. You could probably use a Q-jet from any small block V-8, but you might need to rejet it. There were 3 Q-jets used on 350 Buicks in 72. They were 7042244 (Auto trans) 7042245 (Man Trans), and 7042944(California) You could use one of them with the stock divorced choke thermostatic coil(sits in the manifold) The Buick carbs also use a front mounted fuel inlet, the chevys come in from the side. You could also use any Buick 350 carb from 68-74. I'll list some numbers for you, look in the swap meets and boneyards, and rebuilders, shouldn't be hard to find. 7028244, 7028245, 7029244, 7029245, 7040244, 7040245, 7041245, 7041544, 7023244, 7043245, 7043246, 7044244, 7044246. Stick to these numbers for starters, they are all 350 Buick carbs and should work well on a stock motor. You should be able to find rebuild kits in any Auto parts store. Happy hunting.
i myself have had varying luck with carbs off of different engines. i do know you dont want to go too far from the 350 cuin range if you are pirating a carb off another engine. you dont want to get a carb off a 455, for instance, for your 350 unless you have the breathing capacity [ie: cam, headers, open air flow through the system] to utilize the extra fuel and CFM capability. otherwize q-jets are pretty forgiving. you may notice poor gas milage or a lack of power either on the top end or the bottom, but your car will run with any carb in place. as for different types of engine q-jets. the biggest differences are with the fuel inlet on the front of the carb. buick carbs come in from one side where chevy carbs come in from the front, ect. and the newer the carb the more vacuum ports you will have to deal with [plug off]. if you dont do carb tuning yourself it would be to your advantage to find a guy who is good at it. i know there is a guy a lot of the people here know about who does a pretty good job at a reasonable price. anybody know who i am talking about?
Some food for thought... the four barrel application used a different camshaft. The four barrel may be a disappointment at WOT. You may notice it sagging slightly above 4000 rpm. I suggest a cam change for maximum effect. Ray
