Advice on carbys please.

[cafiem]

Has anyone got any advice on carbys and manifolds. There are a few on evilbay for around the $600 range, what do you reckon about the price?
Is there somewhere that anyone could recommend?
It's a standard 253 but would prefer to get something now that would suit a 308 later.
It has the standard 2 barrel on it now but the top gasket is leaking, the accelerator pumps don't work and god only knows what else.
It was running on gas fine before but I was trying to run it on petrol and no good.
Any advice gurus out there?

thanks in advance.
Cameron.

[jennie285]

I think the more advise you get the more confused you will be .I think it hard to go past putting a four barrel manifold with a Rochester on a 253 or 308 if you get Rochester running right it's hard to beat all round
Rodney wrote this on my computer btw

[HZSandman]

I think the more advise you get the more confused you will be .I think it hard to go past putting a four barrel manifold with a Rochester on a 253 or 308 if you get Rochester running right it's hard to bet all round

second that. Will need an adapter plate.

[HK1837]

The best and easiest on HT-HJ 253 is a 308 manifold from HT-HJ or LH-LX pre 6/76. To make it correct you want a Quadrajet from the same timeframe with divorced choke but if you are not so concerned with originality use a blue motor quaddy.

[wbute]

Blue motor set up for sure. They make a 253 perform and you can swap it straight over to a 308 when you need to. Get the electronic distributer while you are at it.

[adam perth]

getting good second hand rochesters is difficult. you can buy NEW Edelbrock Carbys from the states thru summit landed for around $400 These are a very simular carby to a Rochester Q- Jet.

[HK1837]

Adam, Quaddys are easy to find on Ebay and are cheap to overhaul. $75-$100 will get you one on Ebay and $250 to overhaul.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/ROCHESTER...item27c7252ea7

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Rochester...item2c657a51dc

Or buy a recoed carby for $320

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/QUADRAJET...item519f59dbc8

[sandasharpe]

Hi Cameron,

If your running dual fuel, don't. Decide on gas or petrol and stick with one. Never seen a really good dual fuel carby set up, too much compromise.

I'm a big fan of the std 4 barrel manifold / rochester, HDT would get these really singing and the rochester works really well on the 253 even though on paper its over carb'd.

If your running straight gas use an eldelbrock performer / holley 600 throttle plate / impco 425. HEI ignition is important, LPG heads around 12:1 compression and set initial advance around 12 degrees but get the advance re-curved to around 28 degrees total. Heaps of guys doing this. You'll have no hood clearance problems, cold start is OK - usually around 3-5 secs to prime and smooth idle with no buck and jerk. You might have to go one heat range colder on plugs with slightly smaller gap. Keep it well tuned, run the valve saver on the drip and you'll get better economy on gas than petrol and your motor will last way beyond what is normal with petrol. With this set up on a 308 manual van i've got a best of 14.1 L/100. I had a similar set up on a HQSS that my daughter was driving around and she used to get 11's and this was on the original motor and heads that had done over 200,000 miles and was pretty tired. If you're playing around with the cam be careful because the impco need a nice steady vacuum at idle. Can't begin to tell you how much fun this set up is on my van. I drive the wheels of it and 3 tanks fit under the commercials. I get around 1,000 K's for $110 - $150 (price has been pretty volatile in the last few months)

[Taily]

Hi Cameron,

If your running dual fuel, don't. Decide on gas or petrol and stick with one. Never seen a really good dual fuel carby set up, too much compromise.

I'm a big fan of the std 4 barrel manifold / rochester, HDT would get these really singing and the rochester works really well on the 253 even though on paper its over carb'd.

If your running straight gas use an eldelbrock performer / holley 600 throttle plate / impco 425. HEI ignition is important, LPG heads around 12:1 compression and set initial advance around 12 degrees but get the advance re-curved to around 28 degrees total. Heaps of guys doing this. You'll have no hood clearance problems, cold start is OK - usually around 3-5 secs to prime and smooth idle with no buck and jerk. You might have to go one heat range colder on plugs with slightly smaller gap. Keep it well tuned, run the valve saver on the drip and you'll get better economy on gas than petrol and your motor will last way beyond what is normal with petrol. With this set up on a 308 manual van i've got a best of 14.1 L/100. I had a similar set up on a HQSS that my daughter was driving around and she used to get 11's and this was on the original motor and heads that had done over 200,000 miles and was pretty tired. If you're playing around with the cam be careful because the impco need a nice steady vacuum at idle. Can't begin to tell you how much fun this set up is on my van. I drive the wheels of it and 3 tanks fit under the commercials. I get around 1,000 K's for $110 - $150 (price has been pretty volatile in the last few months)

+1. Really good advice if your looking at LPG, but knowing the area you're in at the moment.... With a mild/standard tuned engine I would stay well away from the Edelbrock Torquer in favour of the Performer if you're thinking of or needing to change manifolds, for the simple reason the torquer will work a lot better lower down. The Torquer suits a cam/headwork/exhaust package that will spin a lot harder. The Performer can be bought for around $300-350 including postage off eBay: Click here and as Byron mentioned a reco Quaddy is around the same dollars, but the only real issue you might find is which fuel inlet you have. Both are at the front, however one feeds straight in, the other joins from the side...



Your HJ should take the side inlet fuel line. Don't forget to ask for it if you buy one off the net. You can mod the line to adapt to a front entry carb or you can find a WB-VL carbied 4.2 or 5.0 pump to carby fuel line. Kittle's may still be able to get one in brand new, or Isa if it is closer. You can still get quaddys non-exchange on eBay for anywhere between $300-400, but make sure you ask for the right one as I mentioned: Clicky clicky I know that Hume performance in Sydney does them on eBay from time to time. Failing that send your carb to a reputable performance shop in any capital and you'll probably not look back. If you're reasonably adept at spinning a screwdriver the two barrel strommy isn't a difficult carby to re-kit (to get you out of the poo) as long as the throttle shaft bearings in the base plate aren't totally knackered (any movement in them and they'll suck air and never tune properly), but they can be re-bushed back to new again.

[cafiem]

Thanks everyone.
I have a quadrajet here and a standard manifold.
I thought I'd give this a go first. There seems to be a difference in the hole spacing / position.
The 4 barrel manifold middle hole ( from front to rear ) has two holes and the one I took off ( 2 barrel ) has only one middle hole.
Is there an engine guru that can tell me whether my engine is early or late. ( I doubt that it's the original engine )
It has the front fuel inlet. Is this a problem apart from lack of originality?
I'm not sure if it'll go but it doesn't now anyway ( just idles )