carburetor for 455

[Adam]

I am in serious need of a new carb for my 455 (72 Centurion), what are my options? Last time I bought a rebuilt Q-jet, I had to return 3 of them before I got one that was any good. Is anyone still making new Q-jets? Do those new Edelbrock carbs work, or a Holley? This is my daily driver, so I can't have it out of commission for more than a weekend, so I can't take the current carb off and rebuild it, (I've never rebuilt anything as complicated as a Q-jet before, so I'm sure it would take me more than a weekend.) My other problem is I don't really have anywhere to work on my car, and am going to have to do it quckly in the parking lot of my apartment complex at night when nobody is looking, so whatever carb I put on has to fit without modifications to the throttle linkage, etc. (But at the moment I'm not too concerned whether or not I will be able hook up the cruise control) Also at this point I'm not too concerned with performance beyond being able to drive it everyday without that nasty 'bog', it stalling while going up hills or when I engage the secondaries, and all the fuel leaking out of the carb when it sits for a while. Thanks.

[Smartin]

Send your qjet to a known qjet rebuilder:

www.trishieldperf.com (http://www.trishieldperf.com) - Jim Weise does a nice job on them.

[Adam]

Some nice looking engines on that site. But I don't want the Centurion, being my only running car, out of commission while I'm waiting for the carb to be rebuilt. Unless they have already rebuilt carbs you can buy, I looked but didn't see any? Although I suppose I could try and dig up something to use on a tempory basis, if that's the only way I can get a good carb.

[73 Centurion]

If you could get another Q-Jet from a junk yard you could have that rebuilt while you limp along with the current one.

I've also read that 80% of Carb problems are actually timing problems. You might want to peak under the cap and make sure everything moves freely. If you can check the timing that might be informative.

John

[Adam]

I finally just went and got a rebuilt Q-jet from a local auto parts store, figuring if it was bad I could still run on that one while getting the original one rebuilt. But I got lucky and got a good one, but the carb wasn't the end of my problems. When I put the new carb on, I found my bog was gone, but the engine was still missing badly. That actually turned out to be caused by worn out points, but after I replaced the points, the cap, rotor and plugs, the Centurion is running better than it ever has in the 2 years I've had it. Strangely, when I pulled the plugs, the plug from cylinder #1 was badly fouled, #2 was somewhat dirty too, the others were not so bad. I kept the original carb though, rather than turning it in for the core charge. Now next weekend I just have to see if I can get get my top to go down.

[dewbers]

That's good news guys........ I had my carb rebuilt as well and it ran great....for a while. Now it's missing again. Timing all screwed up. Talked with my buddy (mechanic) and we're going to do the EFI replacement very soon. Nervous about it, simply b/c of the unkown. But, I'll keep you all posted on the outcome...