I have a quadrajet on my Camaro that I just rebuilt, and if I'm stopped and try to accelerate it cuts out sometimes killing the engine but after I get it past that it works fine all the way until the secondaries have to open then it starts to bog down and doesn't want to go faster.

I've fiddled around with the spring tension for the secondary flaps to see if that changes the bogging down problem but it didn't seem to.

Thanks for any help.

 

Carbs are a tough one to diagnose without being there, but here goes.
First the hesitation. Recheck your fuel level in the bowl, a float level that is too low can cause the problem. Accelerator pump, most QJ's have more than one hole to hook the pump linkage into. Are you certain you have the correct hole in use? Also, while you are checking the float level and have to air horn off, you can check the pump flow. With gas in the bore of the pump push the pump down, you should get gas coming from the fuel passage. If you do not have flow, check the pump fit. There are a few different pump diameters and you may have gotten the wrong one. Also, did you replace the check ball for the pump?

You did not say but how is the idle circuit working? Too lean on that could contribute to the hesitation.

Secondary bogging. Check the fuel level in the secondary bowls. If it is too low the passages may be plugged. They are in the rear of the main bowl on each side. It is a small hole the you can check with a torch tip cleaner.

One last thing, the main body gasket could be wrong, make sure you have the identical twin to what you took out.

 

Thanks for the reply. I probably won't get a chance to check until this weekend, but I will let you know what I find.

 

I changed the linkage for the accelerator pump to the other hole on the pump arm, and that didn't make any difference.
I took the air horn off gas does come out of the passages when I push the pump down
The float was a bit low so I brought it up to the correct height.
Still didn't make a difference.
It does have a new check ball.

The car idles nicely but I don't know how to adjust the idle circuit. Is it one of the screws on the front of the carb?

I thought I had a torch cleaner but but I couldn't find it, or I really don't have one, and I couldn't find anything else to try and clean the passages out for the secondaries.

I don't have the old main body gasket any more but I did lay the old one over the new one to make sure they were the same.

I did notice when I had the air horn off that the front of it is warped. Apparently this is relatively common on pre 1975 quadrajets which this one is. So I don't know if that could be causing part of the problem.

 

I changed the primary metering rods this afternoon. Went from 48b to a 42b and the cutting out problem improved quite a bit but there's still some hesitation when I step on the gas.

 

So you leaned it out? If so then do a plug check and if they're good lean it some more. Maybe go back to the other hole on the acc. pump.

 

I made it run richer.

I wonder if putting in bigger jets would help or if the warped airhorn is allowing air to get sucked in or what. I haven't a clue.

 

At some point I gave up on Qjets, and went to Holleys. Might save some frustration if you just swap it for a good Holley.

 

Nah that would be to easy

Quadrajet's can be nice carbs you just have to know them really well, which I don't yet. The Quadrajet on my pickup works bueatifully.

What would be nice is if someone could actually show me how to adjust these things.

 

BB427 is absolutely right. Go with a holley.... on my first camaro i had a 2 brl r-chester. which was the same thing with half of it chopped off. WHAT A PEICE OF JUNK! never again will I run one. pretty much go with anything over a q-jet. Edelbrock/ holley/ avenger...