OK before i make a bad decision i better ask first! i have a 72 350 lesabre and i was gonna buy a Holly Rebuilt carb from Summit Racing http://www.summitracing.com/parts/HLY-64-7779 problem is they dont have any details about the carb and im not sure if its what i need or a good buy, i figured sense it was rebuilt by Holly it would be a great quality carb and better than a original 7042244 thats rebuilt, question is should i go with that one OR buy a old 7042244 carb which is the original part number, found one for 160$ says its already rebuilt i just dont know enough about carbs to make a good decision.. i tight with money and need to stay under 300$ this car is just for local driving maybe spin a few tires and rev it up but NO racing nothing like that just slow granny driving i need to buy this weekend and wanted someone smarter to make my mind up thanks i just want a great carb and i dont know which of the 2 above is better.. if theres another one better than those 2 please explain ive read many posts on here about carbs but non offer details that help me right now pics of the 2 carbs
in both cases fnd out what jets, rods, and secondary rods are in it. What "extras"? ie new secondary air flap cam? throttle shaft bushings installed? new primary pulloff? new secondary pulloff? new float? epoxied/threaded well plugs? alcohol resistant accellerator pump cup? were the idle tubes pulled during the rebuild? When you gather all this information about the carbs you are considering it will help you to understand what exactly you are buying.....what exactly was the "quality" of the rebuild. EDIT : I would personally avoid any "rebuilt" carb if the above information was not provided prior to purchase. You just wont know what you are buying. good luck!:beers2:
What is on the car now? Can it be rebuilt? If you learn how, you'll have a more legitimate skill than "pimpin"
wow ok, how about i buy the 7042244 which is cheaper and have it rebuilt with your suggested parts / rebuild kit.. or ill get the holly rebuilt one [if the carb body itself is better [or whatever] and just have it rebuilt with a preferred [by u or whoever] kit just let me know what kit or what parts i should get and ill have it rebuilt like it should be instead of a cheap rebuild which im sure is whats in it, probly just replaced gaskets.. i just want to get the better carb even if i have to have it stripped and rebuilt with other jets ect.. lol i have much much skill too many things to list cars is one but carbs/heads/blocks/trans/rear ends aint my cup of tea everything else about a car is easy! but im learning as i go with the major stuff, pimpin is just a "born skill / weekend hobby" lol this is my first project car and first 'older' car.. everything else i have had is 2000-05 and i do all work myself, never will i take my car to a shop unless i just dont wanna mess with it annnnyways... the guy who had the car before me junked the carb and replaced it with a holly 4160 4bbl vac secondary With addapter plate [which is NOT a good mix] and it has never ran right.. i want to sell the holly and get a good ol q-jet like it had to begin with... i would rebuild this nice 4160 but id have to have a TA intake which is 350$ plus shipping and i dont wanna even go there i was hoping to save money and get a q-jet which from what i hear will run and scream alot better than this holly [which needs major major tuning to get it running like it should] i just dont know really what to do, maybe i should buy the TA Intake and rebuild the Holly 4160 ?
im glad i checked out that site, 200$ even for carb direct from them.. autozone is their retailer, thats who they use and the same exact carb from autozone is 316$ !!! craaaaazy! autozone is a bunch a JUNK BS!! from my expireence... i have had 7 carbs from them years ago when i got the car but then they used Champion as their supplier.. ****tyest carbs ive ever touched.. all 7 carbs leaked fuel in different places, broke choke + other stuff, anyways ill keep this in mind but they dont have a pic or ANY details or specs on the carb.. pretty much blind shopping.. ill call them tomorrow and see what they say, other wise id rather go with the summit racing carb thanks alot tho ill check up on this
There isn't a commercially remanufactured carb currently available worth the shipping price to get it to you. The Holley "remanufactured" units are actually among the WORST of the bunch. Carburetors have become very slow moving items, most of the companies remanufacturing (most are actually out of business, or bought out, moved under one roof, etc) them have resorted to "butchering" them and installing low quality components, and "generic" calibrations. I haven't seen a unit it at least 15 years that was even close anyplace for any applications it was sold for. What to do, buy a nice unmolested factory core, being "kitted" a few times woln't hurt it. Then completely/correctly rebuild the carb and make any minor changes needed for your specific application along the way. We have information, and parts to help if/as needed. http://www.cliffshighperformance.com/ Cliff
You couldnt have said it any better! makes complete sense!!! now i know exactly what to do.. thanks u so much for the link i found a few 7042244 cores so ill get one of those and have it rebuilt&kitted, only question i have is.. should i use that part number or is their a better 'core' i should use on my 350 4bbl 72 lesabre? nothing [i dont think] has been done to the motor its stock, but one day ill build it up no time soon tho.. any part# core suggestions that would be better than 7042244? that part number is a 72 carb.. i read a tread on qjets and someone was saying not to get one under 73' so should i go with a 7043244 which is a 73 carb?? and why
Q-jets are application specific. Always best to obtain the original factory part number and build that carburetor if one can be found. If you want up to date and useable/accurate information on the Q-jet, how to select them, complete/correct rebuilding, etc, get one of our books. Reading threads on various websites about q-jets will just give you a headache trying to sort thru the BS to find good information. Here are the basics. The q-jet is an excellent street carburetor. The q-jet in an excellent street/strip carburetor. The q-jet is an excellent race only carburetor. There isn't anything out there that will run any faster at the track, and nothing out there that will be more efficient for "normal" driving. Q-jets got a bad rap decades ago from the piss-poor design of some very early units, and by the time they sorted out the problems with them, emission standards in place at the time required them to be extremely conservative for fuel delivery. Few would work well in a "high performance" application without some help in several areas. Like many other things associated with this hobby, they were never able to completely shake the bad reputation, so folks to this day still say very negative things about them, and associate problems with early units across the entire line of factory q-jets. We've seen this q-jet deal come full circle. Folks today are dumping the shiney aftermarket carburetors and going back to well prepared factory carburetors, even for some pretty serious street/strip vehicles. We have customers running consistantly into the 9's using q-jets, who also have full race aftermarket carburetors at their disposal, but choose to use the q-jet instead for dead solid reliability, excellent idle quality, and ease of staging their vehicles at the track, etc. I'm not on here to wave the flag and recomend that everyone use one for all applications. Just want to point out, that if you want to go fast, and use a factory carburetor, you aren't giving up any ET or MPH anyplace. Just keep in mind that like anything else, going really fast requires a superior fuel delivery system, and spot on fuel and timing curves for your engine, clear across the load/speed range. That part of this hobby has never changed, no such thing as bolt on and go parts, in almost all cases, anything you attempt to use will require some custom tuning/settings. The user should fully expect to have to get dirty if you want the best from your vehicle in all areas......FWIW.....Cliff
