Replacing Quadrajet with Edlebrock for trolling?

[2UNREEL]

I have a 1985 250 DA that I use primarily for Salmon Fishing. I have had nothing but problems with the original and re-manufactured quadrajets on my Mercruiser 260. My goal is to have my engine tuned for fine adjustment between the 800-1000rpm range. I don't care about the top end performance I just need a great troller. I have a few questions I hope some of you can help me out with:

- Is the Edlebrock 1409 the way to go for my application. I like the fact the idle air screws are readily available?
- What are the parts I need to buy or make for a carb swap, base plate adapter? fuel lines?
- Are there any suggestion for tuning the engine for my low rpm trolling.

Any input is appreciated, I know people love the quads...however I am over em.

 

[Steve Craig]

What problems are you having?
Q-Jets, properly jetted & set-up, are almost bullet proof. Reliability is also an excellent selling point.
I run an original Q-Jet on my '71 Buick. Jets will make a huge difference.

 

[2UNREEL]

Problems are: idle air screws are sripped or someting and are very loose. The are not effecting rpm at any setting. This is resulting in a higher idle rpm and rich condition over the coarse of several hours of trolling. I am also getting occational surging at trolling speeds. I barely have any adjustment of idle rpm its either high or low. I connected a vaccum gauge to the intake to try and trouble shoot. All things point to a vaccum leack and I have never been able to find one using many methods. This could also be caused by a defect in the baseplate leaking excess gas into the intake causing my issues. The more I read of the causes of my problems the more I don't want to mess with this quad.

 

[Steve Craig]

Boat off the water for the Winter?
Yours is showing symptoms of a few different issues- surging is usually a loose/wrong primary jet.The bowl bases can develop leaks & require an epoxy plug, etc..
Many carb. shops offer off the shelf rebuilds that can be set-up for your application on a flow bench.
Decide to repair it let me know & I'll put you in touch with a couple serious carb. guys.

 

[2UNREEL]

This is a rebuild carb from flying fish carbs(also the go by other names) it was flowed and ready for install they said. They should have done all the mods. No matter what I am done with that carb and on to an Edlebrock.

 

[bigblockcutlass]

suit youself, but I wouldn't do it.

 

[Steve Craig]

2UNREEL,
Best of luck with the Edlebrock. Keep the old core to rebuild .......just in case.

bigblockcutlass............................what's behind the name........W30?

 

[Steve Craig]

2UNREEL,
Sent a request to a carb. man I know from V8Buick.Reply just came in.
I now your mind is made up but others here may need the info. as well.

Steve, the Q-jet, by design is an EXCELLENT Marine carburetor. They also work very good for off road trucks, rock crawlers, etc.


This is due to the centrally located float, good leverage on the single needle/seat assembly, and jets on the bottom of the bowl.


They also have good venting and excellent fuel control in rough conditions.

If you know someone looking to get away from one, they are probably having issues due to rubber parts used with ethanol, or they simply don't have the knowledge or skill to effectively rebuild the carburetor and set it up to modern standards.


We have ZERO issues anyplace with them in any application, even used on some pretty powerful engines in some pretty fast cars, mine being one of them.....Cliff

Hi Cliff,
Interested in looking at a Q-Jet from a Mercruiser?
Another board I belong to has a member with carb. troubles & looking to get away from the Q-Jet..
I'm telling him an experienced carb. man can rebuild & tune it to the point all he needs to do is bolt it on.
Believe it's a 5.7 260HP small block.

I can forward your contact info. if this is something you might be interested in.

Cheers,
Steve Craig

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[tdappleman]

I have the Edelbrock 1409's on my 4.3s which replaced the original Webers. I can't speak to a comparison of Edelbrock to Q-Jets but I really like the 1409s. Out of the box you need to adjust the floats per the manual as they are usually off right out of the box. Other than that make sure you have the correct metering rods for your engine. Adjustments are easy and you should be up and running in the 800-1000 range very quickly.

 

[CV-23]

Quint4 has a Weber on his 454 with an adapter plate. Seems to work well but I'm not an adapter fan. I've run the QJet on 454, 455 and 350's with great success and my 270/454 runs fine at 1500rpms all day if I want. The QJet is a huge carb for a 350 and mine in the CV-23 runs a bit rich at idle but that boat is at 3,000rpms most of the time and tops out at 4600rpms just like my 454. I'd go with smaller primary metering for what you need or I would maybe bump the timing up a bit a degree or two but that's not the ideal solution, Mike.

 

[2UNREEL]

Thanks Travis, did you rewire new fuel line and a adapter to your intake?