New float/needle valve for quadrajet

[CarsandDrums68]

Hey guys,

I think i might need to replace my float valve in my quadrajet. I saw a video of a new style of valve by an American company called Daytona Parts. I was wondering if anyone had experience with these valves. They seem to be better design wise but i dont know if im just falling for a sales ploy. 

Thanks,
Al

[Dave Shepherd]

Just did the carb on a 66, with that type needle and seat, ethanol resistant by design, seems to work fine.

[Scot Minesinger]

Yes, I know exactly what you are writing about - great product by Daytona.  Highly recommend it.  Installed this on a 76 Cadillac and it worked great.  The quadrajet was introduced in 1967 by Cadillac.

[Jakes]

Hi.... curious as to why you need to replace the needle/seat valve.  What's the car doing that leads you to that conclusion?  What year Cadillac is it and what engine does it have?

I'll probably be rebuilding the carb on my 78 Eldo 425 and bought a kit from Daytona Parts with the new design needle/seat.  Glad to hear positive testimonials.

Regards..
Paul Jacobs

[TJ Hopland]

One thing you need to check in the Qjets is that the arms of the float don't hit that plastic plug that fits over the top of them.  First check and set the float level without the plug then check again with the plug installed to make sure its not hitting.   A little work with a file or dremel type tool on the plug is all you need to make some clearance.

[CarsandDrums68]

I have a 1968 Deville convertible. i was having some engine faltering and it seemed that the float might have been stuck up but the problem has gone away now and I am continuing to keep an eye on it. Most of the problem was a bad coil but it also had a float issue. It seems to have stopped but i will keep an eye on it. if it happens again i wanted to go with a daytona float valve.

Thanks
Al

[Jakes]

Are you putting Sta-Bil ethanol treatment in the gas?  Hope so.  In addition, try adding Sea Foam to the tank on the next couple of fill-ups -- maybe there's some nasty stuff taking up residence in the fuel jets.  Get the car out on a highway at 60 mph for about 10 miles and the SF will help clean it out.

[TJ Hopland]

With the recent talk about fuel filters in another thread and a recent experience I had working on a friends car I have a few other things to add.   May not be the issue in this case but could be useful for others with a possible stuck float issue.   

Its kinda a longish story so if you don't like long stories here is the sort version:

Its possible the last guy didn't do a good job on a rebuild and cleaning and also possible there is no filter anywhere in the system so you could have crud floating around intermittently causing issues like a stuck float or clogged jet.

Long version:

A friend recently contacted me with a intermittently poor running car, an Olds in this case.   Just looking at it I could see that the carb had not been done recently and was leaking gas, sometimes a lot.  Got the car to my place and was going to run some tests like timing, dwell, and like but it would not stay running long enough for me to do them.  I could tell the throttle shafts were badly worn so I knew it was not going to be a rebuild for me so I pulled the carb. 

Before I dropped it off at the shop I pulled the top off for a look.  What I found is there was no filter anywhere in the system.  This would have had one in the front of the carb.  The threads in the front of the carb were stripped so bad I can't believe it was not leaking worse than it was.  Inside there were small chunks of crud floating around and looked like the last guy did a halfhearted attempt to clean it but didn't go real deep or do a complete job, maybe the guy that stripped the inlet fitting? 

Brought it to a local shop with a good rep and they said the passages under the jets were very nasty so the last guy definitely didn't do a complete job.    They were able to install a repair fitting for the inlet which to me looked like it was slightly oversized and had self cutting threads on it.  They said I could likely run the shorter filter or the brass one if I really wanted to but their recommendation was to use an external inline filter to save stress on the threads.   I thought about doing both but they said the stock filters can be a little restrictive and this was in theory a 'performance' application so I went with what they recommended.

Its got a clear inline filter on it now and so far not showing any signs of crud so maybe the tank got cleaned since last time the carb was apart?   

When an older car like this is new to me I always put a clear inline filter between the hard line on the frame and fuel pump.   Sometimes it takes a long hose and some careful routing but I think its worth the trouble to see what may be lurking in the tank.   If you run a few tanks full of fuel through it and it stays clean you can go back to stock.   If its crappy you can easily keep changing the filter till you can properly deal with the tank.

[Dave Shepherd]

Great advice!!

[fishnjim]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadrajet

[TJ Hopland]

I didn't read the whole thing but not one of the better written wiki articles.   

Was there something specific there you wanted to point out?

[willits]

I've got Daytona kits in both my '58 & '61 for a few years now.  They have AFBs but a float valve is a float valve.  I've had no problems with them.   

Check
https://daytonaparts.com/daytona-carburetor-float-valve.html


Peter

[TJ Hopland]

Their gaskets seem like they are made of more than paper.   I have not had one installed long enough to see how they look after say 5-10 years but at least out of the box they appear to be quality material.