Background: Hi Guys, I'm new to the site and new to muscle cars. I have worked on fuel injected(mainly 1980's and above) cars since I was 15 and am more familiar with those than carburated motors (so please bare with me), but have just recently purchased my first muscle car, a 1971 Buick Skylark Custom Convertible with a 350 2BBL. It needs some TLC, but all in all it is a great starting point and is going to be a great project. Please bare with me if my questions get lengthy, I enjoy working on thsi car and want to learn as much as possible. Actual Question: I'm starting to work on the engine, and part of my restoration is upgrading. I would like to upgrade the carb from a 2barrel to a 4 barrel carburetor along with the intake manifold. I was going to purchase an Edelbrock but then I discovered this website and read your posts about how those aren't good carburetors for the Buick 350. First Question: Why isn't the Edelbrock a good carb for this motor? Every thread I read said that a Quadrajet type carb would be ideal, so my next question is what is the difference between Quadrajet and a regular Edelbrock? After talking to a few "car guys" I gathered from them that Edelbrock carbs don't need adjusting, but the Quadrajet do, is this true? Because I would prefer to not have to make adjustments to my carb. And my final question is what setup(carb and manifold) do you guys recommend? Thanks, Ryan
I've got an Edelbrock on my 70 Skylark 350. It's only a 600cfm square-bore carb with an adapter to make it fit my stock spreadbore manifold. They may be good for a Chevy, but Buick 350s like the full 750cfm of a q-jet. I have one in my garage that I'm going to work on rebuilding soon. As far as a manifold, the stock iron 4-bbl spreadbore manifold is best also. You can look at postonbuick.com or taperformance.com to buy an aluminum intake, but you really won't gain much power - all you'll do is save a shave a few pounds. DD
A "restoration" does NOT include "upgrading". You cannot "restore" a car to something other than how it was built in the past. Fixing up a car and making improvements from stock specs is often called "restification"; a combination of restoration and modification. It's not a matter of them not being good carbs for a Buick; it's a matter of them not being good carbs. They're based on the old Carter AFB (Aluminum Four Barrel) carb, but manufactured for Edelbrock by a contracted vendor--Weber. Because the AFB has a very primitive secondary air valve mechanism, they often stumble when you stand on the throttle. The Carter AVS (Air Valve Secondary) has a somewhat better air valve control mechanism; the Edelbrock equivalent is their "Thunder Series". In either case, the Q-jet air valve is much more sophisticated. The Edelbrock/Carter carbs may be easier to do jetting changes on than a Q-jet. What's the difference between a Buick and a Ford? They are COMPLETELY different, nothing interchanges. The Q-jet has smaller primaries than the Edelbrock/Carter carbs and 99.9% of Q-Jets have double boosters in the primaries both of which make for good low-speed atomization. You could get a Q-jet that has the proper throttle lever to work with your vehicle--although adapter brackets and such are common. ANY carb will need to be tuned to the application for optimum performance; doesn't matter what brand of carb. By the same token, most any carb can be run out-of-the-box if you don't care about power or driveability. I'd be looking for a Q-Jet; one having a hot-air or electric choke, because a hot-air choke can be easily converted to electric, which is what I'd actually want to use. After that, I'd want one that hasn't had the front two mounting bolts over-tightened; most Q-jets have warped air horns because the front bolts were tightened by a gorilla. I'd want it to have a throttle lever compatible with my throttle linkage/cable; and compatible with the transmission used--A TH 350 or TH 700 uses a cable connected to the throttle lever. You'd want it to have a fuel inlet compatible with stock metal fuel tubes--but--this becomes a non-issue when you are able to bend a fuel tube to match the carb. I do a fair amount of tube-bending, so this wouldn't be a big consideration for me. Generic rubber hose is not suitable for the pressure side of the fuel pump, which is why GM used double-wall seamless steel tubing. Beyond that, you have about a million other choices most of which won't make a "real" difference in the way the car runs. There is an INCREDIBLE amount of variety in how Q-Jet carbs were designed. My first choice would be a '76--'79 Buick Q-jet, but if you can give up the electric choke, a genuine '71 Buick 350 Q-jet would be "correct" for the car.
Your best bet is to find a 70-72 4bb q jet and intake setup locally so you do not have to ship it. Look for a dirty setup that has not been rebuilt... That way you know it is likely not been messed with by someone who did not know what to do exactly. There are a few members rebuilding these carbs for pretty cheep, let me know if you need a referal. As noted the Q-jet is a very well suited carb to these engines and will get better fuel milage then the spreadbore style carbs which have the same sized primaries as secondaries. The q-jet has smaller primaries and delivers superior economy untill you open the secondaries. Half the fun of these cars is the tinkering with them so give me a Q-jet anyday over a bolt on generic carb! The 750 cfm 70 to 72 Buick 350 carbs are the great without any mods just a re-build or even tune if your are lucky, and I even use the 800 cfm Buick 455 carbs with a few mods on my 350s! Not a bad idea to call around to the wreckers in your area and plant a sead... they may not have a Buick 350 with a 4bb but if they come across one they will call you! You probly will not end up like me, collecting 19 Buick 350s but I just can not turn them away... especially running engines for under $200 LOL.... BTW. Welcome, and do not hesitate to ask MANY questions! If you get stuck and do not have time to wait for a response on the board then call me.... Sean 780-881-6567
Here is what I would do. I would get a TA intake manifold. Yeah it will cost a few bucks. But worth it in the long run. Some will say that the stock 4 bbl intake will make more horsepower than the TA intake. This might be true, But this is why you buy the TA intake. First you can put any carb you want with this intake. Q-jet, Edelbrock, Carter AVB, and Carter Thermoquad, also Holley Double Pumper and the Holley vacume secondary models. Plus all others. The only carb that works right with the stock intake is the Q-jet carb. Putting any kind of adapter on the stock intake just calls for bad gas milage, the car doesn't run right, doesn't idle right, The list just goes on. I know I tried them. Buying a TA intake from TA performance helps them to create other projects like getting Aluminum Heads out to us 350 guys. If you have to make a cam change then you got to lift that heavy intake manifold off and it isn't easy to lower back down on the engine gently. With the TA intake you can also put a 4 hole or a open hole spacer between the carb and the intake. This always gives you more power somewhere in the powerband. These are things that you have to test out or ask others on how they work. You can add up to a 2 inch spacer between the carb and the intake and still be able to get a low profile air cleaner on. Also last but not least if you want you can add a nitrous kit to the engine when you have a TA intake on the car it can be done buy buying the normal cheap setup. Myself I run the Holley 750 Double Pumper with a one inch open spacer on it and the nitrous plate on top of that which gives me about one and one half inches of space between the carb and the intake. Then I have a 16 inch K&N Flo-Control air cleaner low profile with a 4 inch element on it and it just barley fits. The Q-jet carb will work just great for you provided you get one and do what everyone on here tells you to do on making this carb run good. There are some tricks on this site that will help make this carb run for you. I just happen to know more about Holleys so that is the carb that I use. Don't forget to buy some headers also. This will complement the addition to the 4 bbl. Might as well get some Flomasters while your at it also. Don't forget the X-pipe. :3gears:
I might need a referal pretty soon. I have one from a '72 that needs to be rebuilt. I have a NAPA rebuild kit and new float for it.
Yeah, but can you pump the gas twice on a cold engine, bump the starter, put it in reverse and back out of the garage without any trouble???? With the AC on??? Ity all depends on what you want. If you get away fron the stock intake you sacrifice driveability, and get only a slight performance gain (if any) in return.. To me, if you have to sit around and warm up the engine that would suck.. You can however run an electric choke. I would stay with the q-jet and stock intake with the choke working right. Do a search, you will see that the TA intake didn't make any better power on a mild 350..
I don't even have a choke on mine. I pump it 4 times and it fires right up. I have to keep the rpm up to about a 1000rpm or so for about 1 minute then back it out of the garage and let it idle from there. I don't drive the car in the winter so I just don't really need a choke. If you are not worried about using different carbs then keep the stock intake on it. But if you want the diversity of putting any carb you want on it then put a TA intake on it. Plus it saves weight. My driveability is not affected at this point and I can drive right down the road after of about 2 minutes. I think that my TA intake with my 750 double pump Holley with my 1 inch spacer on it Port Matched to my Ported Heads make more power than a stock intake would. Plus the TA intake looks cooler than stock. I do know this for sure. The Holley 750 dbl pump made 30 more horsepower than my carter 750 AFB did on a engine dyno. If you are just going to swap out intakes and expect more power. No that will not happen with the TA intake. The stock one unfortunately makes more power there. How much I do not know.
Buying that TA intake is silly. Buying things from them is not going to speed up the 350 projects either. I believe part of their business plan is to get everyone to can their 350s and buy 455s then purchase everything they need from TA like heads, nice intakes, and conversion stuff. If you want an intake with a real power increase talk to Mark Burton about an X-Factor, but that is for modified 350s only. Otherwise, paint up a stocker to look nice and pretty and use that.:beers2:
buy your quadrajet from Sean Murphy Induction. Not terribly cheap at $389, but it's the only way to do a QJ imho. Unless you know those carbs in and out, you'll hgave a tough time getting it adjusted properly
The averages from the stock intake and the TA intake had the TA ahead by only 2-4 on horse and torque. But isn't that what you look for when adding horsepower. Plus you are saving about 45 lbs. off the front end. That is a lot of weight off the front end. That = ET. at the track. Like I said, If you want the stock look keep the stock intake on it With the Q-jet only. By the way the only Nitrous kit that will work on here is the NOS top shot kit. No other kit will work with a Stock Intake. Except for plumbing each port of course. The TA intake is meant to replace the stock intake. The X-Factor intake is not meant to really be for a stock engine. This intake really operates much better at a higher rpm. If you want the look of a Aluminum intake on your car then you put it on. Advantage: You can put ANY carb you want on it and you can put ANY of the 4-5 Nitrous kits on it that are available. In the end it comes down to what you want on your car and how you want it to look and how you want to build it.
Hey Ryan. I run a poston intake with a summit remanufactured 750cfm Q-jet and they work great without any problems. The only thing I did to the Q-jet is adjusted the secondaries to open off the line and eliminated the choke. My intake is painted to match the rest of the engine for a stock look. I love the sound of my Q-jet when it's all in!!
Had a TA on my daugters 350 and Qjet.Problem was the choke didn't work well and my daughter didn't like having to mess with it in cooler weather.Put the stocker back on and it ran excellent and the choke worked perfectly in cool weather.she raced it both ways and the TA was good for only .05,she has headers and a 118 cam,3.08 posi and stock converter, so it wasn't worth it to her for the drivabilty of a stock one. gary
THe top shot won't work. It will make a big mess because the shot starts before the secondary doors open. this setup could work for you.
Go with stock intake and Qjet. I love Qjets. Have one on our 464 that dynoed over 500hp, and over 575 torque on pump gas. Once they are built right, you need to adjust the air/idle mixture screws, and run it.
Is the Top Shot the same as the Powershot plate/spray bar kit? The Powershot is the non-adjustable 125 kit, with a spreadbore plate.
