Bought a slightly used quadrajet & it's been running for about a month without the electric choke wire conected. The only problem was while in gear when warmed up the idle was about 900. Even after adjusting the fast idle it always stayed around 900. I finally got the electric choke hooked up tonight & it seemed after the choke warmed up the car would die in gear. Used a vacuum gauge to see if the idle mixture screws needed to be adjusted but it seemed the settings were good. I asked a mechanic & he says the choke not being connected wouldn't matter. When it's warmed up the choke plate would open up reguardless of the choke working. I thought that if the choke wasn't operating then it never fully open when the engine warms up. If that is the case then that would explain the high idle when warm with the choke wire disconected.
Hopefully someone could hep me out here.

i used the quadrajet and had many headaches over them.

my advice: junk it and get a Holley

The choke has a fast idle cam that keeps the RPM's up on cold starts. Try setting the idle with the choke operatonal. When the engine warms up and the choke comes off it will allow the RPM to drop if it is working properly. You would want to set the idle then.

There are several settings that require adjustment. At cold start, choke on, set the fast idle. (screw on the center lower right side in front of the electric choke coil.) With the engine hot and choke off, set the idle speed ( screw on the drivers side front acting against the throttle.) Adjust mixture screws as it seems you have. Also make sure the choke pull off is working properly. Make sure your ignition is good and timing is correct.

TTFN
Mat

Dawg, I heard your comment before from others. What Holley would you recommend for sitting on top of double humbs and a 350 block, all stock? HP about 275.

Thanks

Bluesdog

quadrajunk's are easy to work on , just get you a big barrel or bucket ,,, or,,,,ohh ohh I know a trash can , one of those big plastic one's any color will do fine , then with a marker (DIFFERENT COLOR FROM THE TRASH CAN) write special file 13 on it then place the quadrajunk in a plastic bag marked (DEAD RAT DO NOT OPEN) this is so some poor smuck won't get it out of the bag and think HEY IT'S FREE I'LL TAKE IT HOME AND PUT IT ON MY CAR , after you have the bag clearly marked place the bag inside the trash can and put some of your household garbage on top of it then place the whole can near your curb or garbage pickup location , and BOOM it will never trouble you again ,
you may be traumatized by this people sometimes are and it take's year's of trouble free holley enjoyment to make it go away but trust me it will ,

and just to clear this I know you are lieing about it idleing at 900 ,

IT WOULD HAVE TO START TO DO THAT!!!!!!!

Oops. :clonk:

A quadrajet carb is only as bad as the person working on it. I have two old caddys with q-jets and they work great. Years ago I had a '69 Nova SS 350 auto with a q-jet and it worked great. I rebuilt the q-jet on my brother's '85 Monte Carlo SS and it works great. I run a Holley 650DP on my Camaro because it was easier to tune for a non-stock engine and the second accelerator pump makes a manual tranny car work a little better. If it was an auto car it would probably have a q-jet on it. Get yourself a good q-jet book and read up. They're really not that hard to fix. Really.

A quadrajet carb is only as bad as the person working on it. ...Get yourself a good q-jet book and read up. They're really not that hard to fix. Really.
I second that. I've heard people bitch about Holley's too. Carbs aren't easy to work on if you don't know how they work. Holley's for example have so many adjustment points (jets, accel. pump, etc.) that you can get into trouble if you start adjusting them without understanding what is wrong with them. For me, I use whatever is available. I usually rebuild them and set them back to factory specs and work from there - Holley, Q-jet, or whatever.

Q-jets have been around for so long because they are reliable carbs. They are calibrated for the vehicle they were made for, so don't be surprised if you have to mess with it some to make it work on your motor the way it should. Same can be said for any other carb. One advantage to the Q-jet is it is a spread bore carb. The small primaries make for really good street manners with lots of secondary for WOT. Get the book, become a Q-jet expert and enjoy.

and just to clear this I know you are lieing about it idleing at 900 ,

IT WOULD HAVE TO START TO DO THAT!!!!!!!

The idle was before I wired the choke. It would idle in gear at 900 & in neutral it's around 1300 or so. That was the ony way I could get it to drive without the engine cutting out in the morning.
With the choke wired I set the fast idle to 1100 & it drives fine for about a minute or two, then the choke opens & the engine dies. I tried to turn the idle speed after that & I still couldn't get it to stop cutting out. Finally unplugged the choke wire & I was able to drive no problem.

If the motor seems to want a lot of choke to keep running, you may have a vacuum leak. For example, my holley carb with a thin paper gasket wouldn't set down on my Performer RPM intake. The accel pump level would contact one of the runners and created a leak at the base gasket. I installed a thicker gasket to get the clearance I needed and stopped the leak. Could also be a manifold gasket. Any chance a vacuum leak lead you to think the old carb was a problem? I've also seen carb flange bolts installed too tight which warped the throttle plate and caused a leak. Yet another thing to consider is that old carbs often will wear out the hole where the throttle shaft goes creating a leak. Are the throttle shafts floppy?