Keep the Rochester?

[mmag36]

What are your thoughts about the q-jet? I am trying to put together my restoration game plan for my 67 GTO. The car has the original 400 motor with the 4 barrel Rochester and a 400th tranny. The motor needs work so I am considering a more "advanced" carb and intake but I like the sound of the car when the secondaries of the q-jet kick in. Any thouhgts in general?

[sporter]

I run a Q-jet and have found they can match nearly any carb out there in performance yet provide significantly better economy. I had mine custom built by Cliff Ruggles for $350 and it has run flawlessly for several years now. He can rebuild yours or build an 840 cfm unit like mine. Several folks are running in the 10's with the factory iron intake and Q-jets. Actually, these days there are Q-jets running in the 9's. For a street car, I'd keep the Q-jet and give Cliff a call.

http://www.cliffshighperformance.com/

Here's a good article on testing done by SD Performance with Q-jet vs Holley with a variety of intakes.

http://www.sdperformance.com/newsStory.php?newsID=44

BTW, a '67 400 block is considered a very good block for strength. Would make an excellent candidate for big power.

[megaladon6]

x2 on everything. the q-jet really is a very good carb, it's just more complicated on initial setup than a holley. if you want to mod it yourself, buy cliff ruggles book and order a kit from him.
oh, if you aren't concerned about keeping the engine all original, look for a late 70's or early 80's non electronic q-jet (probably from a truck) as they have many of the upgrades and fixes in them. according to cliff they are the best of them for power apps and what edelbrock used for their performer carbs.,

[pitts64]

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[Tom Welch]

Cliff is the man, Jim Hand's book mentions him and many swear by him. The last I heard he had a several month long waiting list.

[pitts64]

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[hectore3]

I'll second Cliff. He is over on the PY online forums boards for Pontiacs mainly. I met him over at his trailer at Norwalk. A very personable man. Try him out.

[b-man]

I'll go right along with the other 'Quadrajet cheerleaders' here.

There really isn't a more 'advanced' 4-barrel street and moderate race carb than the Q-jet.

With the proper calibration you can make a Q-jet run right with or better than any Holley or Holley 'clone' on a hot street car. It will get better fuel mileage at the same time too, usually about 2 MPG better from what I've read.

Here's my 800 cfm '77 Pontiac 350 'smogger' carb sitting on my GTOs 455 HO engine that was done up by who else, Cliff Ruggles. After a good rebuilding and recalibrating it runs perfectly at any engine speed.

It might be hard to believe but the '75 and later ones are some of the best candidates for a performance make-over. Mine always has a nice consistant and predictable idle even with the fairly big street cam I'm running, (244/252 @ .050) along with great hesitation-free mid-range and top-end power.

[vsefiream]

I've always been a huge Q-jet fan but can the Q-jet survive an E85 conversion? I have been kicking around the idea for a while and IF I act on it I want a carb that will adapt. Any thoughts?