+- Twitchin Kitten - conversation community (https://twitchinkitten.com)
+-- Forum: Twitchy's Garage (https://twitchinkitten.com/forum-24.html)
+--- Forum: Cars, Trucks, Bikes (https://twitchinkitten.com/forum-34.html)
+---- Forum: Backyard Mechanics (https://twitchinkitten.com/forum-35.html)
+---- Thread: The marvels of carburetor cleaner (/thread-125.html)
The marvels of carburetor cleaner - LKTraz - 08-29-2009
Friday on the way home from work my throttle began to get sticky. Not fully stuck mind you but very slow to release.
I pulled over and as I had my head buried under the hood one of my friends spotted me and pulled in to see if he could lend a hand. I mentioned that if I just had a pair of needle nosed pliers I could make an adjustment to the throttle return spring and be good enough to get home with no major issues. Sure enough he had a pair.
I stretched the spring and re-bent the end so it had more tension to pull the throttle off. It worked but it was still a little sticky so I figured that I'd need to clean and re-lubricate the carb.
I just went out and did it and to my shock discovered that it was so gummed up that the secondaries weren't even functioning on it!
This is a Rochester Quadra-jet four barrel. I wondered why the truck was a bit sluggish when I floored it to climb a big hill.
I sprayed the entire carb and linkage and even shot some down the carb with the truck running and the throttle part open.
WOW! What a difference!!!!!!
I took it for a ride and it now idles more smoothly as well as goes like hell when I dump the pedal.
The moral of the story?
A little bit of carb cleaner goes a long way toward performance improvement!
RE: The marvels of carburetor cleaner - Twitchin Kitten - 08-29-2009
Capt. Fugly is still sporting a carburetor? I wish they never went with fuel injection. I found cars are actually more efficient, powerful and responsive with a carburetor instead.
Good to know that can of Gunk worked for you. did you use Gunk?
RE: The marvels of carburetor cleaner - LKTraz - 08-29-2009
Nope. I have industrial carburetor cleaner from Castle Automotive Products.
RE: The marvels of carburetor cleaner - Twitchin Kitten - 08-29-2009
show off
:p
RE: The marvels of carburetor cleaner - LKTraz - 09-22-2009
In anticipation of replacing the carb I just cleaned up I did a bit of pricing at Advance Auto.
MAN has it been a while since I priced carbs!!!!!!!!! REBUILT Quadrajets are going for $449.00
I was expecting $150 - $200.
The manager (god I just love that gal) did some rooting around and found me a NEW Holley 500 cfm that goes for $279.00. That's more like it!
RE: The marvels of carburetor cleaner - Twitchin Kitten - 09-22-2009
Damn, I guess they're considered rare or 'antique' parts now! $449 is a ripoff!
Take the Holley, it's better than a genuine GM anyway!
RE: The marvels of carburetor cleaner - LKTraz - 09-22-2009
Yeah......I don't need a QJ that bad!
I don't care if it's Rochester, Holley, Carter or Edelbrock, $449.00 is insane for a rebuilt carb. Shit, I can buy a brand assed new Holley Dominator 1100 cfm for just over $1000.00.
Thye pisser is that the rebuild kit for the QJ is only $20.00 but there is no replacement parts for the electronic choke module (which is...you guessed it...shot on mine).