I attended one of the first QJ rebuilding training sessions GM sponsored in 1966, at the GM traing center in Memphis. The first car to run a QJ was the 65 Chevy 396 big block, and that carb had some growing pains that couldn't be fixed. GM did a recall on all of them. I've probably built up several hundred of them since then. It's one of the best engineered carburetors on the market, with the Carter AFB running a close second. Edelbrock is a third rate clone of a Carter, with a bunch of manufacturing shortcuts used to reduce the cost of manufacture,. If you have a flow bench and several thousdand dollars' worth of tuning parts, go for an Edelbrock.
The trick is getting a QJ that's calibrated for a specific engine, since they were used on everything from a 230 cubic inch Pontiac overhead cam inline six to a 500 cubic inch Cadillac V8. One size definitely does not fit all! There are also 22 consecutive adjustments to make during a rebuild. Don't skip any of them, as many of them have an effect on the next one. The best way to clean any carburetor during a rebuild is to boil the parts in a big stainless steel stock pot, with water and Dawn dishwashing liquid. Then give all the parts a HOT water rinse, and blow massive quantities of compressed air from a needle-point blow gun through all the passages. The boil and rinse softens the deposits- - - -the air blows them clean. Spray can degreaser doesn't do much other than give the mechanic a good buzz. Have fun!
I was wondering when someone would get around to mentioning the Carter AFB.
