74 eldo carb., bad idle

[Viator Trudeau]

As posted before about bad idle caused by cyl's fed by rt. side of carb.
took carb apart, wire and air thru every orfice and tube, and soaked in llaqoer thinner over night.,  am checking for gasket surfaces to be flat.  Bottom of bowl apx. .oo6 out of being flat, do you think the gasket will seal up well enough.  The primary throttle shaft has .002 of slop. too much??  A bushing kit is available, I think the installation of the bushing requires machine shop accuracy.  These noted issues can be the cause of my bad idle.   V. Trudeau     #8697                                                               

[TJ Hopland]

If you also buy the special drill bit that is often sold with the bushing kit it can be a project for a fairly capable diy person but the cost is usually high enough that you got to be planning on doing several carbs to make it worth it vs just taking it somewhere and having it done.

As for the bowl problem I don't know.   I don't do enough work where I have to measure things to know if that is a lot or not.   Usually the base plate to intake is the bigger problem area because of the fairly thin sealing areas.

[35-709]

I don't know if .002 is enough slop to require bushing of the throttle shaft but I have the bushing kit and have done the Q-jet in one of my cars with good results.  The way the reamer in the kit is used the kit provides the accuracy required, the services of a machine shop are not necessary.
The bushing kit will service several carbs, I have already loaned the kit to a friend and still have bushings left.  One could have the carb professionally rebuilt and the bushings done at that time but I rebuilt my own in this case so the bushing kit was worth the money to me.

The company linked below sells bushing kits for 1 carburetor ($29.00) or for 5 carburetors ($129.00) ---

http://quadrajetcarburetors.com/

Or, you can Google  quadrajet throttle shaft bushing kit for many other Q-jet parts sources.

[Gene Beaird]

.006" is not that much.  The gasket will make up the difference.  The .002, while noticible, isn't that much either, and you can certainly make up any air leaks by idle mixture changes. 

Since you have the carburetor apart, I'd seal up the metering well plugs and put things back together. 

[Viator Trudeau]

Hello all posters;;   on adjusting float level on my '74 ELDO the shop manual calls for 23/64" down from top of bowl to top of float.  Thats a 64" less than 3/8".  Thats the demention given in the shop manual, what tolerance is acceptable??  Having had the air horn off I fill ed the bowl till the needle was closed, the float rides high in the fuel so the actual level was at least 1/2' lower.  Iv'e been putting kits in carb. since 1960 (still need to know more).  Any thoughts on this??  before I cut down the shade tree.
V. Trudeau  #8697

[TJ Hopland]

I set them by flipping the carb upside down.   

On the Q jets lately I have seen it quite a few times where the arms of the float hit that black plastic plug thing before the needle fully seats.   I check then first without the plug in then again with the plug to make sure there is no change and there is a slight clearance with the needle seated.  If it does not clear a little work on the plastic with a file or dremel like tool does the trick.