When I got my 455 out of a 76 Electra 225, I got the original carb with it. I had the carb rebuilt to put on my engine after it was rebuilt as well, but it never seemed to run the best, bogging down a lot. That was about 10 years ago, and I didn't really have the time or experience to work on it and try to get it running better, so I eventually replaced it with a 750 CFM Edelbrock Performer carb just to get it running and steetable. It's been running good since then, but I've been wanting to get back to using a quadrajet on it. Currently my engine is bored .030 over, running 10:1 pistons from T/A, stock heads, TA212 cam and Edelbrock performer intake. This is a cruising car, but it's nice to have the power on demand if I want it. So my question is, should I bother with the 76 Q Jet, or try to get an earlier model such as a 69-72 version?
I think a '76 Q-jet is considered desireable in that it has the adjustable part throttle system, and is an 850. Someone with better knowledge should chime in soon.
You are correct there. The '76 unit is a more desirable unit than the earlier ones. It has the external APT system, as well as, provisions for an electric choke, which is more desirable than the divorced style choke on the earlier units. I just sent a '76 Q-jet to Cliff R. for rebuilding. After talking with him with the same questions, he said to look for a core in the '76-79 era, as those are the best. He actually runs a '77 unit on his Pontiac. Just my .02. Good luck.
a 76 carb has the APT and electric choke capability as mentioned above so yes I too agree that it is a good starting point. Remember that your motor is a little "warmed-over", ie more than stock. You will benefit greatly from modifying that stock 76 carb to match your motor. Check out the Ruggles book and the Doug Roe book. There is a lot of additional performance to be had from your 76 carb with little effort.
Thanks guys, that makes me feel a lot better. I've actuallly been reading the Doug Roe book, it's definitely a lot to take in, so I'm sure I'll have more questions on it. I think it's time to pull the Q Jet back off the shelf and see what can be worked out of it.
Thanks for recomending our book. It contains modern information on the q-jet, and covers complete/correct rebuilding, tuning, recalibration, and high performance modifications. The later carburetors are excellent. Biggest problem with them is that they are emission calibrated and released under much tighter standards than older units. For this reason, folks typically avoid them, even today. The 1976 Buick carburetor is large cfm, excellent float set-up, APT system, and much better castings than earlier models. Some very early 1976 models will have the 1975 APT system in the front corner of the carburetor, and may have an auxilary power piston as well. They are still excellent units, but not as easy to set-up or tune as the later design......Cliff
