missing power

I don't doubt or question the experience you had with this problem. But all GM 4V intakes from 67-68 up ? are spread bore. and require an adapter to use a square bore carb. So if it works on a (Chevy, Caddy, Oldsmobile, Pontiac....) There is no plausible explanation why it won't work on a Buick.

If the adapter is sealed correctly with gaskets top and bottom how can 1/2" piece of alum. disrupt the air/fuel charge to the point of it not working at all and being junk.

Now as far as gaining/losing H.P. or torque I'm not going to question your BUT

IT JUST WON'T WORK PERIOD. Maybe there was an issue with your CARTER carb.

Again agree to disagree


Edit: It just won't work period.........................................Carter carb

 

A E-brock carb is pretty much an OEM replacement. And designed to run good on just about everything (but not great on any one specific engine)

Vic Jr. is not stupid the 600 cfm carb was built and targeted to those 1 million small block Chevy owners with most of them running a 350 ci so for a stocker how far off is its calibration that becomes a problem for a Buick 350

As for performance the E-brock is a good fit for almost all OEM and mildly built setups but for purpose built performance not the best
choice.


So for everybody that ever swapped there 2GC for a Q-jet is screwed (there calibrated and jetted differently) with different CFM ratings.

You can't have it both ways

 

Just curious how many of us would recommend or sell this gentleman a $300-400 carb based on this info ???

You need to go back to the scene of the crime (so to speak) and see if you can and reverse engineer what you did.
Because if it ran one way then you did X Y & Z and it ran another way.
I would start there.

It could be something that got plugged back in wrong.

It happens to everyone at some time or another regardless of age or experience.

 

Agreed. Carb debate done to death I was hoping to avoid it and I don't think I helped matters and maybe added some gas to the fire. So back to trying to help this guy.

Talking bad about Q-Jet carbs is like telling someone that there wife is fat and there kids are uglyou:

 

This is another case where information is coming out in dribs and drabs and cryptic to boot. When it finally comes out that the OP has messed with the electrical system and things happened and then things don't happen I'd have to say the electrical system is where to look. When you have a problem and want it to diagnosed over the internet(and elsewhere to be truthfull)all the information you can give helps and any changes especially. Such as did it just happen or has it been going on for a long time?

I have to say that if the first thing you say is swap out a carb because it is "not good on a Buick" then you should be the first one to offer up the guy a carb to borrow because you're pretty good at spending the guys money. There is no reason ANY PROPERLY WORKING carb wouldn't run acceptibly on any Buick engine, even a goofy Autolite 4 bbl. Now I'm not saying that the typical Carter or Edelbrock will be the OPTIMUM performance carb on a particular engine, just that it should work fine for general use. Somehow every aftermarket Carter or Edelbrock carb sold to a Buick owner is bad yet there are thousands out there working quite nicely on Brand X cars, many of which are faster than just about any of the fastest Q-Jet operated 350 Buicks out there. I'm sure there are Brand X websites where they claim Q-Jets are the the worst ever. If the OP was complaining that at the track he thought the car was a little slow I'd be first in line to recommend gettting a Q-Jet on there.

I will also say that the biggest problem people run into putting the square bore carb on a spread bore intake(and vice versa) is with the adapter. They usually have a vacuum leak somewhere causing all kinds of problems. Also you have to use a 4 hole to 4 hole adapter if you want to get close to optimising the carb on a stock type spread bore intake. There would be way too much reversion at heavier throttle loads without it.

 

Aftermarket carbs are universal. which means that they will work on many engine but have to be tuned for your needs.to many people think they are " bolt on". The only carb that is bolt on is the factory carb. And even that requires tuning.but your jets and metering will be closer then an aftermarket carb. Most people are going for bragging rights with aftermarket carbs as it sounds more impressive.some have had bragging rights to say they raced a car with all kinds of bolt ons as the car was not tuned right.

 

The first thing I'd check is that all plug wires are connected to the proper plug, easy to mix up. I'd also finish the tune up by replacing the points, plugs, rotor & cap even though your buddy says they look fine. The points & plugs are the only thing that a visual inspection can tell you much and I've seen plugs that look fine that don't work properly. It is also a possibility that the new coil is week. Also check to make sure ALL vacuum hoses and other wires are connected to the proper places.

Did the car run fine with the Ebrock prior to you partial tune up? If it did then your then the carb is probably NOT the problem.

You mentioned something about the problem starting when you changed the thermal limit switch on the A/C. Have you tried undoing that to see if the problem goes away? Can't see how that would cause your prob, butttt, as Smar said if it was running fine before then it must be something you did or one hell of a coincidence.

 

Even if there is another problem with the engine like electrical, or timing etc I still stand by my advice to remove the E brock carb.... Time and time again people come on here and complain of poor performing 350s and only once the carb is swapped out are they happy... Sure he can waste time trying to get the carb to work properly but in the end it will still never have the power that a factory Q jet would give.

It has been proven time and time again that the Buick 350 likes a 750-850 CFM carb, and yes a well calibrated Holley, edelbrock, Q jet or any other carb will work fine if it is a spread bore version, or if a TA intake is used... The point is why re-invent the wheel and modify, trial and error, tune, and work to get an aftermarket carb to run well on a stock engine when a stock Q jet would get better fuel mileage and run right off the hop without all the hassle. For a racing engine with lots of mods I see the Holley as a great choice due to its ease of re-calibrating however the square bore only works well with the TA intake as Guy pointed out already.

I think all of us agree that the carb is not the only issue here....

I think that once the single plane intakes and heads are released you will find Buick 350s running fast at the track with 650 CFM carbs due to the lack of restriction in the induction of the engine. This has been proven on the Buick 455 and I am sure the 350 will react the same... When using mild ported factory heads on a Buick 455 the optimum carb size is larger than once good flowing heads are swapped on... It is a well known fact that chevy 350s run well with small carbs, and I feel that once we have better induction we can lower the CFM requirements of the carb.

 

Killa24

Have you had a chance to try any of the suggestions like putting a vacuum gauge on it. Some of the tests are easy and others not so much.

So without being rude are you in a position to check any of the things talked about if yes good if not don't worry about it a lot of people here can walk you through the steps

Also if you can get a photo of the engine (air cleaner removed) from the top we may be able to look at some of the vacuum hoses and electrical connections that might be crossed up. Focus on the area where you were unplugging stuff and repairing your A/C

 

Um, guys, I think many of you are missing something important here. Near the bottom of the first page, additional information was provided. The little tidbit that makes ALL the difference is this:

it started acting like this I was installing a thermal limiter to the ac compressor and I rev the gas at the carb at it started this. I turned the car off and fired it up again and it was running regular I plugged everything back up and it started this again seems like it getting an electric shock from somewhere or something I don't know but it has acted this way before with me dealing with the ac just on its on then it comes out of it...

This tells me it's an electrical problem and doesn't have one thing to do with the brand or style of carb, etc. When you add parts/change anything and THEN have problems, the 95% answer to why you are now having problems is simply that whatever you did is either not compatible with your combination, not installed properly, not adjusted properly or the parts used are defective.

That said, K-24, my first suggestion would be to check where your new switch is getting power. If it's a switched 12v, be sure it isn't the + wire to the ignition. Low voltage to the primary side results in low voltage to the secondary side and a crappy running engine when demand/load on your ignition goes up.
Check to be sure you have good grounds on your new parts.
Can you post a wiring diagram or at least describe, in detail, exactly what parts you used, how they are connected, where in the wiring harness you connected them and what type of connections you used.

The guys on this board are pretty darn good, they just need all of the information. :laugh:

 

You are trying to feed 2 small barrels and 2 large barrels with 2 small barrels from the carb, using this open spacer. No one does not think that creates a problem with carb to intake distribution problems. Yeah it does, sure the car will idle and run. But will it run right at part throttle. MY Carter carb was not that old and was still new. I had the same problem using a Holley 3310 600 cfm carb. You have to up the jets and the pump shot to make up the big hole opening for the spacer. That has to feed the back open large barrels where the Q-Jet only feed 2 barrels until opened up. you need the 4 hole spacer for the carb if you want it to work.

 

He has already gone down the path of the (PARTS REPLACEMENT ARTIST) by installing $50-100 worth of ignition parts and is being told to change his carb $300+ ?

It's ok this trend is reversible with some testing and verifying

 

There appears to be a crisis. it seems that all across this great land of ours yours/there's E-Brock carbs are destroying Buicks and according to some at the rate of 2 per week and who know how many years this has been going on (Where is the humanity) There should be a hot line set up.

2 per week x 52 weeks x ? years WOW could be in the thousands hundreds of thousands

That's why the S.T.E.C. foundation is being created (save the E-Brook carb)

I'm thinking for my infomercial I would like to have Sara M. singing in the arms of an angel

Also if I could just buy them all up for cost of its core value since there all junk !!!

Just lighting the mood :moonu:



(PLEASE STOP THE MADNESS)

 

:gp:

 

Hey thanks to all you guys for the help. I've been working so I haven't been able to get around to anything...The truth is vacuum leaks were is the best place to look for a bad one. I've been hesitating about getting a electronic dis but haven't done it..I think maybe it is carb dirt or something because it's done this before just idling so this is crazy. I'm willing to try everything you guys a suggesting today and tomorrow. .so if it's a vacuum leak you think the car is stuck in a air clogg or something..



Note that I've had fun with the edelbrock it's quick for me off the line than but the qjet at about 120 feels like it needs more power were the edelbrock dies out to get to 120 at 85 90 mph

 

Tell us exactly what you did with the electrical step by step don't leave anything out no matter how trivial you think it may be. Post photos of the engine with the air cleaner off top view.

 

"This tells me it's an electrical problem and doesn't have one thing to do with the brand or style of carb, etc. When you add parts/change anything and THEN have problems, the 95% answer to why you are now having problems is simply that whatever you did is either not compatible with your combination, not installed properly, not adjusted properly or the parts used are defective."

That's what I was getting at too, and should be the FIRST thing he checks and all he has to do is disconnect it to see if that makes the problem go away.

Sean, you are probably right about the Ebrock not being the optimal carb for a sbb, but telling him to replace it with a Q-jet doesn't help him diagnose the problem. First find out what the problem is, when that is fixed then change the carb for better performance if desired.

 

My eldelbrock works flawlessly with the adapter. Rule out other possible problems. a dead/ruptured vac advance actuator will make it run horrible off idle. I'm not commenting on q jets other than find an expert rebuilder to rebuild yours. Its way more involved than cleaning and re gasket and it requires someone who knows how to fix 40 year old worn out carbs, often requires rebushing throttle shafts and fixing leaky bowls. Its not cheap done right.