Whats a better carb for a 401 bored .030 with 9.8:1 Compression?

i can tell you exactly why KB quit using the thermoquad..... they had a basic design flaw... the plastic main body would warp from the heat....and torque stress... and then they would start leaking fuel....and you could not stop them from doing it....

 

I always knew that.. my buddy had a 80 Plymouth Fury 360 ex-police car that was a fire waiting to happen.. and besides that was SLOW SLOW SLOW! How did cops catch people back then? My 76 Custom Cruiser wagon would run circles around that thing!

I just recieved a package from the daughter of the original owner of my 73, 2 years after I bought it- in it was the nearly new Thermoquad, and ancient Carter TQ strip kit and the two mint original licencse plate frames from the selling dealer, Sangera Buick in Oakland. That was a nice surprise! I probably wont do much with the TQ just for that reason (although I dont thinnk it's seem enough manifold time to actually warp yet)

Starting my own 4 barrel museum. Between the AFB's, the TQ, the various Q-Jets and the Holley 4165 I'm running out of shelf space!

BTW 66GSConv, I saw it in the KB literature,and I've seen it in published road tests - most people sem to agree that the dual quads didnt perform as well as a single quad on the street - I have a copy of an old road test of 2 64 wildcats compared, the single AFB walks allover the super wildcat in the 1/4, the dual quads didnt come on until over 100 mph...??? Tom T can probably give more first hand expereince, he's got a few customers running them. I can't afford to explore THAT harware!

 

Rhett, I have heard of that road test. From what I can tell after pulling off the 2x4 and putting on the qft 950 with doc mods plus a few things I did to the intake I have not wanted to go back to the 2x4. I did do a dyno pull with the 1x4 vs 2x4 a few years ago but had engine problems so they were not valid. After going from one set up to the other about 4 times in the last 5 years I am going with the 1x4 and I have a little something up my sleeve for it. More on that later :grin:

 

I'll try to post that article on here next week, but cant vouch for it's validity, dont remember if gearing, etc.. also came into play.

Interested to hear all about your set up- please keep us posted!

 

Yeah,,, me curious too.....

 

Oddly enough I have a copy of "super tuning and modifying Carter carburetors" by Dave Emanuel I was just reading, he also mentions the single quad being a better street set-up as well.....

Just a little light reading before I attempt the rebuild on my AFB :laugh:

 

Doc, You will love me for this - I had a 400 inch Chrysler Cordoba (no, it had velour upholstery - not the "rich, Corinthian leather"). It had a Thermobog that had the problem that you described. I replaced it with a Holley, and it ran great.

 

always been a green nailhead fan - but - that qft red/red motor looks real nice .
ok , now back to tech !

 

Since a "Nail" intake manifold runs so much cooler than most anything else I don't think there would be a problem of warping a TC if it was not warped previously.


Tom T.

 

Tom,

I noticed that you hadn't replied to anything lately and thought that perhaps you'd been up ended by Sandy.

Looks like you're okay.

Ed

 

Tom! Been so busy with Rockaway/Brighton/Breezy Point etc.. I forgot your shop is less than a mile from the water (that pond/inlet thing anyway) Hope you made out OK at the shop and the house. I'll give you a call later.

 

Thanks everyone for all the thoughts. Thankfully everything with me are OK. Although many of my neighbors in low lying areas are not doing as well. Of course as you all know many trees came CRASHING down. Crushing cars, boats floating & blocking streets, a front porch was ripped off by a floating boat. Another went through the front of a home. Much damage & devistation all around. You can somewhat deal with water, but fire that no one can get to is NOTHING that anyone can do but just watch. There are many that need help they aren't getting. Many are homeless. Many lost thier lives mostly because they wanted to be stuborn & stay. It's a very sad thing to watch & be mostly helpless to do anything about. My thoughts & prayers go out to everyone that's been affected. If you have the fortune of being able to help someone I hope some will do so.

Tom T.

 

Tom,,,
sadly,,,,,, some guys from here went up there to that area, to help and were turned away because they were not union....

 

Hi Doc,
Yup, I read about that. They were from Decatur, AL (at least the ones that I read about). They got all the way to a staging area in Virginia, and were turned away because as you said, they were not union members. I'll make no more comment on that subject...

 

It is really heart rending to hear the people asking for help and not being able to get it.... my wife works in Decatur Ala....They took time off from their jobs,,, got the tools , supplies and gas together and headed up there to help, free of charge... and got turned away....

 

Many that know me know my stand on "Union's". Same as Obummer, lost the popular vote but won on the EC. Wonder why more don't go to the polls & vote????

 

I'm not quite sure it was a union issue, as I'm told there are a lot of non-union crews working down there. I know first hand how chaotic putting together disaster relief is, I'd put my money on just plain human ineptitude. In that kind of environment, I've seen much poorer decisions made by generally pretty smart people.

And I'm glad you're good Tom - God forbid we get that same kind of storm with serious, serious wind. We're due. I guess the good news is more and more people are figuring out evacuation doesnt make you a wuss...

I was on the Alabama/Mississippi coast after Katrina, that was probably the worst devistation I've ever seen (although all the media attention was on New Orleans, I was there too...) There was a great article written on that storm (in Car and Driver of all places) Probably the best thing you can read if you're thinking of whether to stay or go as a storm closes in. It also gave me a great perspective on the people we're there to help, and what they've been through...

http://www.caranddriver.com/features/the-ride-of-a-lifetime-feature

 

Someone on both ends should have checked this out better before they were sent.
Here in Alabama, when we have storm damage; TVA/REA crews are not allowed to work on Alabama Power lines. Also Alabama Power crews are not allowed to work on TVA/REA or Co-op lines.
It's not so much a Union issue as it is an issue with funding sources.

Alabama Power is a stock owned company.
TVA/REA are government subsidised. And there is a legal issue with co-mingling funds.

In my county (Jefferson) there are two cities that are on TVA (Bessemer and Tarrant). The rest of the county is on Alabama Power. After a storm, one can see crews from all over the country coming to help out.
But one won't see Alabama Power in Bessemer nor in Tarrant. And, one won't see Bessemer nor Tarrant working on Alabama Power lines in other parts of Jefferson county.

You're right, New Orleans was relatively unscathed by Katrina's winds. New Orleans damage came about from Katrina's storm surge causing the levee breach, after Katrina's winds had passed.

 

John, I thought last week this was all you were going to say about this. So these poeple left there regular jobs and got in there personal cars and convoyed up there to work on downed lines? Trust me after 30 years as a electrician with out proper training you dont want to mess around with them voltages. Now if this was a power company driveing up with company trucks and tools they are getting paid. That company will hammer someone,government,insurence, local power company some one will pay that bill. And John if you had 3 electrcians and 3 plummers take 3 days to do what you could do in 1 day, everywhere I have ever worked we would have been fired and not been able to be rehired for that contractor. And as for as unions, after the army I did 3 years as a non union electrician before getting into the union. After a year at the non union shop I went in to see the "BOSS" and he said the price of copper was up so you get a nickel raise. I am not crazy about obama but romney might have done better if he hadnt talked every day about smashing unions and doing away with social security. Mabey we can drive everyones wages down to where the mexicans and working class are fighjting for digging a ditch for 1 dollar a hour. What about our kids and grand kids Anyone else on this board hoping to get there social security when they retire or are you already on it. You paid it in............ sorry, can we get back to the thread

 

Speaking of Thermoquads, has anyone made an aftermarket mid section for them with modern plastics/resins that perhaps are better at withstanding heat cycles and/or end-user assembley error? (thats what I heard happened a lot, people would tightend them to tight or not enough and then they'd warp)

I suppose there isn't that big of a market for TQs now-a-days.