Just got a Qjet from painekiller today Part #7042244 for a 72 buick 350 My neighbor says Qjets are a tricky rebuild. National Carberators wants about 200 after a core return. Should I send it out or do it myself? Any other sources that would rebuild it for me you know about? Thanks for you help.
Try Ken on the board here. He does a great job and you'll be supporting a fellow board member. His handle here is Techg8 His website is www.everyday-performance.com
Last year I wanted the BEST to rebuild my Stage 1 Qjet so I contacted John Osborne, he retired from them and Cliff Ruggles, who had a 11 month turn around. Cliff convinced me to do it myself since I was well versed on Hollys and he was right! I bought his Qjet book and read it cover to cover several times and also bought my parts from him. He also said to call him anytime with any and all questions with it. He was super nice and helpful and my Qjet turned out perfect, it runs-out perfect and I don't even have to be in the car to start it, just reach in and hit the key. I love the fact that I now know the ins and outs of a Qjet and tuning which is priceless IMO.
If you have good mechanical skills, and can take things apart and put them back together, that is a good start. I DO NOT recommend sending that good Buick carb to a generic rebuilder as a core credit. Search on the board and you will see me, Cliff, Ken and others talking about the major issues you can have, mostly with mismatched parts. Cliff has great parts, excellent book to help as mentioned above. I get all my parts from him, they last, and when set up correctly, you will have no parts issues. You can get the kit, get a new primary choke pull off. Also get good solvents to soak or spray it out. 2 cans of Berrymans can do it. Don't settle for cheap rebuild kits from local parts store. And, if you decide to have one of us to rebuild it for you, you can get plenty of help. Cliff is in high demand because of the products he produces. Ken does great as well. I do quite a few, but it is a weekend venture for me to support my Buick builds. Lots of support here if you dig in to it yourself. Just don't send it off to trade as core to the generic rebuilders. Last I heard, Cliff won't even take those carbs in anymore to rebuild because of the horrible issues. Hope this helps. Good luck.
From experience... send it out. I rebuilt mine, and it was not that hard, but it didn't run right. And my throttle shafts were worn making a vac leak and I just don't have the tools to do that. Thats when I had Mark do a carb for me, and the car runs like a beast, bolted it on, and very minor adjustment with direction from Mark.
Qjets are not that hard to rebuild. A good book like Cliff's is a good resource. If you plan on sending your carb out make sure the company doing it will keep all your parts together. These carbs were calibrated specifically for the Buick engine and I am not just talking about the jets and rods.
X2! He recently did a carb for me, and I couldn't be happier with it! His customer service skills are top notch too! :TU:
Stumper, You received some good advice from the board members. Send it to a custom builder from the boards or try it yourself. Stay clear of the auto part stores rebuilt carbs or the big "generic" rebuilders
Follow-up i sent my carb to Ken and it looks super!! the pull off choke got busted in shipping and sent me a new one. Great guy to deal with... I highly recommend.. Haven't been able to start my engine yet, but I'm not worried..
I had Ken do my 66 Q-Jet, and I'm very happy with it.. That said, between Ken and Cliff Ruggles I've learned enough to be dangerous. If you want to learn how, buy Cliff's book and a $25 Q-Jet core off eBay and practice/experiment. It's not rocket science, but you dont want to use your fairly rare 244 carb to learn on.
If you have decent tools, a vise and a 1/2" drill, then you can rebuild the Q-Jet by yourself. I sent a Q-Jet out for a: "professional," rebuild many years ago, and I had a bad experience. What I got back looked great, but leaked fuel and ran crappy. Sent it back. It came back still running crappy. I've learned a lot more and gotten better results doing the rebuilds myself since that time. Installing throttle shaft bushings is not too difficult with Cliff's kit. Changing out the parts is also not too tough. I now have 5 fully functioning 4MV Q-Jets on my bench, which I can swap in and out in minutes to try out new settings.
