I just bought a 68 riviera with what appears to be the original Rochester Q-jet on it...its pretty dirty and I got some carb cleaneer and sprayed it up...but it still seems like something in it just isn't working right. Is it a big deal for someone who pretty much knows nothing about carbs to go down to the local parts store...pick up a little rebuild kit and do it? Any advice on what to do would be greatly appreciated...
It's not that tough, but you have to be careful on several places, and pay attention to the details. You would need to buy a kit, and some carburator cleaner to soak the parts, and some spray cleaner. You have to completely dissasemble the carb, and remove all plastic items then soak. Then put back together. Make sure you match up the gaskets to make sure they are the same as what you take off.
Rebuilding a carb is pretty easy. TUNING the carb can be very involved. As long as you're just doing a basic rebuild, things should go pretty easy. A high-school kid can overhaul a Q-jet. COMPARE the old gaskets to the new ones, be sure that ALL the little holes, slots and protrusions in the old gasket are present in the new one--and that the new gasket doesn't have EXTRA holes. In short, make sure the old and new gaskets are the S-A-M-E. Loose throttle shafts are a common problem; and that's going to take some expertise and specialized tools--or--just subcontract that part of the job to the local automotive machine shop if yours are worn. Other than the throttle shaft/bushing installation, cleaning, fresh gaskets, and adjustment are easy enough. Follow ALL the instructions with the carb kit that apply to your carb; and do the adjustments in the order specified. Shoving in fresh gaskets without verifying the adjustments is about one step away from a total waste of your time. Although I prefer to soak carbs in a dip tank of specialized solvent, I've successfully cleaned carbs with a few cans of aerosol carb spray; being sure to shoot cleaner through ALL of the passages while WATCHING to be sure it sprays out the other end of the passage. Spray the outside of the carb first, to eliminate 95% of the crap, then take the carb apart and clean the inside.
