I run a SMI Stage II Q-Jet. Nice carb custom made for my engine. Sounds like it runs the same as your Edelbrock. It will take a "Sh*% Load" of driving to pay back $500.00 bucks with a possible slight difference in gas mileage between the two, just to say you like a Q-Jet and it gets slightly better gas mileage. I would stay with the EB....Jack
Edelbrock 800 vs Custom Q-Jet from Cliffs?
I've been running an Edelbrock 800 AVS on my 383 stroker for a few years now. Ran pretty good out of the box, typical stuff though with off idle hesitations and such at first. Got the tuning kit, changed squirters, metering rods, step up springs, and now it has no hesitations, no bogs, runs really good IMO. Has great idle, good driveability, and great WOT.
I always hear everyone say Edelbrocks suck and everything, but I've always seemed to have good luck with them. But with that said, I've never tried running a different style carb such as a Holley, Quickfuel, Demon, or even a Q-jet.
I contacted Cliff Ruggles at Cliff's High Performance and asked him about building a custom Q-jet for my engine, gave him all my specs, etc. He quoted me a little over $500 to get it set up and everything. He's backed up for almost 6 months at the moment, so this would be a next season type deal.
Just wondering if any of you went with a Q-jet from Cliff and what your experience was going from whatever style carb you had to the Q-jet? I know someone on here mentioned in a different thread that they had a setup Q-jet that ran 11.80's on their car and the tricked out Holley only ran 11.70's, only one tenth quicker. So it sounds like you can really dial these things in good if you know what you're doing (which I dont so I contacted Cliff).
Also, what would be involved with changing over from an Edelbrock to a Q-jet as far as brackets, fuel plumbing, fuel psi, etc? I'm running 5.5 psi right now, will the Q-jet like that or need more/less?
My car is 95% street and 5% strip, so I'm thinking a Q-jet might be kind of cool for the street and still have some pretty good performance overall. Probably bump up my mpgs a little around town but still have good WOT performance.
Bottom line is, its over $500 for this custom Q-jet, and I have my current Edelbrock carb setup pretty nice and working great. Not like I"m just looking to dump the Edelbrock because its not running right or I'm too lazy to tune it, it runs awesome as is, just wondering if the performance difference between the two would be worth that kind of money?
Thanks for your input!
I always hear everyone say Edelbrocks suck and everything, but I've always seemed to have good luck with them. But with that said, I've never tried running a different style carb such as a Holley, Quickfuel, Demon, or even a Q-jet.
I contacted Cliff Ruggles at Cliff's High Performance and asked him about building a custom Q-jet for my engine, gave him all my specs, etc. He quoted me a little over $500 to get it set up and everything. He's backed up for almost 6 months at the moment, so this would be a next season type deal.
Just wondering if any of you went with a Q-jet from Cliff and what your experience was going from whatever style carb you had to the Q-jet? I know someone on here mentioned in a different thread that they had a setup Q-jet that ran 11.80's on their car and the tricked out Holley only ran 11.70's, only one tenth quicker. So it sounds like you can really dial these things in good if you know what you're doing (which I dont so I contacted Cliff).
Also, what would be involved with changing over from an Edelbrock to a Q-jet as far as brackets, fuel plumbing, fuel psi, etc? I'm running 5.5 psi right now, will the Q-jet like that or need more/less?
My car is 95% street and 5% strip, so I'm thinking a Q-jet might be kind of cool for the street and still have some pretty good performance overall. Probably bump up my mpgs a little around town but still have good WOT performance.
Bottom line is, its over $500 for this custom Q-jet, and I have my current Edelbrock carb setup pretty nice and working great. Not like I"m just looking to dump the Edelbrock because its not running right or I'm too lazy to tune it, it runs awesome as is, just wondering if the performance difference between the two would be worth that kind of money?
Thanks for your input!
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Jackel,
Thanks for the response! I was sort of thinking the same way, $500+ is a lot of money to spend on something that may only have a slight difference. I was just wondering if anyone else had good experiences with custom built Q-jets and it sounds like yours is set up really nicely for your car.
Seems like everyone has their preference when it comes to carbs, but I've been able to mess with Edelbrocks for a while and they always seem to do pretty well on my car. Those calibration kits are key though, just bolting it on and expecting it to perform flawlessly is not the best idea. Seems like they always need more pump shot and stiffer springs to cure those typical hesitations and bogs you hear people complain about. This AVS carb has a nice secondary tuning feature too which eliminates the secondary bog whereas my old Performer 750 just had weights on the secondary airflap that wasnt tuneable at all.
I suppose I could put the $500 to better use by upgrading my current converter. Maybe one day when I have some extra $$$ to kill I'll try swapping different carbs around to see which one works best.
I've seen articles and write-ups and posts from various sources that state Holleys are best, they make more power, then other sources say their Edelbrock made more power, or it was within 5 hp of the Holley, etc. Whenever I'm at the dragstrip though all I see is Holley's, which leads me to believe that Holleys are best for all out performance. But since I only go to the strip once or twice a year for fun, the fact that I already know how to tune/mess with an Edelbrock makes me stick with them for now.
Thanks again for your input!
Thanks for the response! I was sort of thinking the same way, $500+ is a lot of money to spend on something that may only have a slight difference. I was just wondering if anyone else had good experiences with custom built Q-jets and it sounds like yours is set up really nicely for your car.
Seems like everyone has their preference when it comes to carbs, but I've been able to mess with Edelbrocks for a while and they always seem to do pretty well on my car. Those calibration kits are key though, just bolting it on and expecting it to perform flawlessly is not the best idea. Seems like they always need more pump shot and stiffer springs to cure those typical hesitations and bogs you hear people complain about. This AVS carb has a nice secondary tuning feature too which eliminates the secondary bog whereas my old Performer 750 just had weights on the secondary airflap that wasnt tuneable at all.
I suppose I could put the $500 to better use by upgrading my current converter. Maybe one day when I have some extra $$$ to kill I'll try swapping different carbs around to see which one works best.
I've seen articles and write-ups and posts from various sources that state Holleys are best, they make more power, then other sources say their Edelbrock made more power, or it was within 5 hp of the Holley, etc. Whenever I'm at the dragstrip though all I see is Holley's, which leads me to believe that Holleys are best for all out performance. But since I only go to the strip once or twice a year for fun, the fact that I already know how to tune/mess with an Edelbrock makes me stick with them for now.
Thanks again for your input!
That is exactly where my head was at. Having a carb that matches and performs flawlessly on a street engine makes it fun to drive. Having FIVE more HP or 1/2 mile more per gallon for $500.00 does not mean squat on the street, cruzing around town.Jackel, Thanks for the response! I was sort of thinking the same way, $500+ is a lot of money to spend on something that may only have a slight difference. But since I only go to the strip once or twice a year for fun, the fact that I already know how to tune/mess with an Edelbrock makes me stick with them for now. Thanks again for your input!
If you would like to try one, buy a used BIG BLOCK Q-Jet and read how to tune the carb and see if you can get it to perform better than your EB. Link below for tuning:
http://www.florida4x4.com/tech/quadrajet/index.php
Could be fun and a nice venture into the never, never land of the Q-Jet. Will save you huge money to...Good luck....By the way, nice car. Something about a Gen3 Red Nova gets me. I havn't figured why though...LOL....Jack
That's not a bad idea. I was able to understand how to tune an Edelbrock carb just from reading the manual and experimenting with stuff, so maybe I could give that a shot. I know Q-jets are far more complicated than the Eddy's are though.
I just wonder where you can get parts for them nowadays? You can get rebuild kits for them I'm sure, but what about tuning kits with rods, jets, etc? Edelbrock and Holley have all sorts of aftermarket stuff available, but I dont think the Quadrajets have the same following.
Could be a fun project down the road though. For now, I think you're right, for the difference I'd get on the street it may not be worth the $500 or more I'd be spending. Not to mention all the extra stuff I'd have to do to set the carb up (i.e. re-route fuel lines, brackets, linkage, etc.). For what I do with the car its probably fine as is.
Thanks! It's actually the original factory color, Flame Orange. It was stock on 1972 Rally Novas, which is what mine was originally. Started out as a 307 V8, powerglide, 3.08 gears, etc. Now has 383, Th350, and 3.73 posi. I left the interior alone though, only thing changed in there is the tach on the column and B&M floor shifter.
Looks like you did something similar to your car as I did to mine. Back in 2005 I redid my car, not a frame off, but pretty extensive. Had new fenders, doors, quarters, windshield, dash cowl, weatherstripping, etc all put on and then repainted the original Flame Orange color. Didnt touch the interior much, put in new carpet in 2002 since it was worn out, but that was it. Drivetrain has been completely redone though. My buddy and I dropped in the 383 back in 2001, had it out in 2002 for some stuff, and then was pulled again in 2008 when I put the new top end package on it. Just put some new M/T ET Street Radials on the back so I could get traction at full throttle and those tires rock!
With a little reading, research, and help from members here I've been able to get the engine running really good now. I had no stock specs to go off with the new setup, so I sort of had to set it up on my own, and I'm far from a top notch mechanic, haha! I"m pretty happy with how its turned out though.
I see you bought your car new in 1970? That's sweet! You've had that car forever! I bought mine in 1997 when I was 15, saved up money from cutting lawns and working, etc. Now that I'm 30 I can say I've had the car half my life, haha!
It looks like your car turned out really nice as well. These old cars are just so much fun to mess with and cruise around in. My dad turned me on to old muscle cars years ago as a kid and I've loved them ever since. Its nice to meet other members on these forums that are interested in this stuff as well.
Have a good one!
I just wonder where you can get parts for them nowadays? You can get rebuild kits for them I'm sure, but what about tuning kits with rods, jets, etc? Edelbrock and Holley have all sorts of aftermarket stuff available, but I dont think the Quadrajets have the same following.
Could be a fun project down the road though. For now, I think you're right, for the difference I'd get on the street it may not be worth the $500 or more I'd be spending. Not to mention all the extra stuff I'd have to do to set the carb up (i.e. re-route fuel lines, brackets, linkage, etc.). For what I do with the car its probably fine as is.
Thanks! It's actually the original factory color, Flame Orange. It was stock on 1972 Rally Novas, which is what mine was originally. Started out as a 307 V8, powerglide, 3.08 gears, etc. Now has 383, Th350, and 3.73 posi. I left the interior alone though, only thing changed in there is the tach on the column and B&M floor shifter.
Looks like you did something similar to your car as I did to mine. Back in 2005 I redid my car, not a frame off, but pretty extensive. Had new fenders, doors, quarters, windshield, dash cowl, weatherstripping, etc all put on and then repainted the original Flame Orange color. Didnt touch the interior much, put in new carpet in 2002 since it was worn out, but that was it. Drivetrain has been completely redone though. My buddy and I dropped in the 383 back in 2001, had it out in 2002 for some stuff, and then was pulled again in 2008 when I put the new top end package on it. Just put some new M/T ET Street Radials on the back so I could get traction at full throttle and those tires rock!
With a little reading, research, and help from members here I've been able to get the engine running really good now. I had no stock specs to go off with the new setup, so I sort of had to set it up on my own, and I'm far from a top notch mechanic, haha! I"m pretty happy with how its turned out though.
I see you bought your car new in 1970? That's sweet! You've had that car forever! I bought mine in 1997 when I was 15, saved up money from cutting lawns and working, etc. Now that I'm 30 I can say I've had the car half my life, haha!
It looks like your car turned out really nice as well. These old cars are just so much fun to mess with and cruise around in. My dad turned me on to old muscle cars years ago as a kid and I've loved them ever since. Its nice to meet other members on these forums that are interested in this stuff as well.
Have a good one!
I always use the Q-Jet, I flat out like the carb. I bought my parts from Edelbrock, they have most all that a re-build kit does not.I just wonder where you can get parts for them nowadays? You can get rebuild kits for them I'm sure, but what about tuning kits with rods, jets, etc? Edelbrock and Holley have all sorts of aftermarket stuff available, but I dont think the Quadrajets have the same following.
Thanks! It's actually the original factory color, Flame Orange. It was stock on 1972 Rally Novas, which is what mine was originally. Started out as a 307 V8, powerglide, 3.08 gears, etc. Now has 383, Th350, and 3.73 posi. I left the interior alone though, only thing changed in there is the tach on the column and B&M floor shifter.
I see you bought your car new in 1970? That's sweet! You've had that car forever! Its nice to meet other members on these forums that are interested in this stuff as well.Have a good one!
The picture fooled me, it looks red.
I actually sold the car in 1975 to my brother-in-law and he drove it into the ground. The car sat (20 years) some outside and some inside in a snow area but when I bought it new I had two coats of under seal put on. Saved it from major rust BIG TIME. I bought it back around 4 years ago and have been working on it since. I spent too much money and not enough time restoring, even though I'm retired. Still have a way to go…Nice chatting....Jack
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