Hey all. I have a 1969 Jeep Wagoneer with a factory installed Buick 350 2 barrel. I'd like to swap the OE Rochester 2GV for a Quadrajet. I've already acquired a factory 350 4 barrel intake which I believe came off a '69 model year Buick car. It does use the divorced choke setup like my current 2 barrel intake. I'm wondering what year/model QJ would be best suited for my application. My engine is currently bone stock. I may eventually want to install a mild cam, but this vehicle will always be a cruiser so nothing crazy, low to mid range power and good drivability is the goal. I assume a QJ intended for a B350 would be the obvious choice, but I'm mainly wondering if a later model QJ with APT would be worth running over an earlier model without it? I believe the QJ's with APT all used a hot air style choke, so I assume I'd need to convert the carb to an electric choke. Is that worth doing in my application for the extra tuning ablity of an APT carb, or should I just keep it as simple as possible and get an earlier QJ that uses the divorced choke? I'm brand new to carbs by the way, but interested to learn. I bought Cliff's book and have been reading and re-reading one chapter or section at a time until things start to make sense. I don't trust myself to do a competent rebuild on a used carb on my own with zero experience and I've heard that parts store replacement carbs usually have generic calibrations; so I'm hoping to either find the right rebuilt QJ online, or locate a complete used carb and a competent rebuilder that isn't currently booked months out... is there anyone you guys can recommend, or likewise, any rebuilders / sellers that I should run away from?
We have two amazing Q jet carb builders on here. Both of them can provide you with a perfect Q jet and they likely have cores in stock. Use an electric choke, they sell Conversion kits. I could email both of these guys to discus the best option: https://www.everyday-performance.com/ https://quadrajetpower.com/ both of these guys are amazing, you can’t go wrong with either. I’ve used both of their carbs with great success.
I agree with Sean. You can have one set up for your engine and it probably won't be big $. I do think the divorced choke is fine also, as long as you have all the parts and know how to install/set it up (the carb builder cannot do this for you).
I'd add @Rob Ross to list of rebuilders. He's currently doing one for me. Not sure his lead times. Back when I had my Wagoneer (I was 16 when I got it in '83 - I think I said '85 in the other thread) I wanted to add a 4BBL so called around and there was no aftermarket manifold available. It never even occurred to me for some reason to look for a factory manifold. I guess I just assumed all factory cars had 2BBL's.
If you have all the original divorced choke parts and they are in good shape a factory style divorced choke from that era is on the list. If you move to a 1976 or later hot air or electric choke model with the APT system it will work on any intake. The later carburetors are superior in nearly every area to the early models. For decades they were passed over by most in search of early models simply because in stock form the later units were subject to much tighter emission standards so most were so lean right off the bench they didn't work well on to many engines outside of the one they were originally used on. I use a 1977 Pontiac carb on my own engine and it has been flawless for many years and not one time have I had to touch it. At this point the top hasn't been off in close to 20 years, and when it was I was testing parts or putting different parts in it for the increased power level of engines I was installing. The Chapter in my book on carburetor selection covers the improvements in the later units.......Cliff
