Rochester Carburetors: Tune, Rebuild or Modify

Rebuilding a Rochester can be a little intimidating. Let's face it, you can't successfully work on something that you don't understand. If you read this book before you begin, you will understand what the function is of every part that you'll see on your Qj. If you've rebuilt a few Rochesters before and need to fine tune a Quadrajet for a performance engine, this book will answer most all of the questions that you might have. Roe does an excellent job discussing carburetor theory. He shows clear, large photos of each carb circuit. The choke system on a Quadrajet can be very complex, so I've found myself pulling this book off the shelf time and again and using the excellent illustrations to figure out just how the linkage is supposed to go. He also included a helpful section on building for performance, and fixing idle problems associated with long duration camshafts. This appears to be the later version of this book. Therefore, it also contains tips on rebuilding the dreaded "CCC" or feedback carb, also know as the electronic Quadrajet. The first version had more information on the 4GC and 2G carbs, but there is still some information provided on each. I would like to point out one area that I disagree with the author about. Unless you are doing a concours restoration, avoid the 1965 - early 1967 Quadrajets. First of all, the pressure regulated fuel inlet valve (a deviation from a normal needle and seat) is unavailable. Most people won't even know what you are talking about when you mention it. A conversion kit to convert to a conventional needle and seat is included with most rebuild kits, but Roe recommends avoiding these. Secondly, it appears that the "issues in the field" that he mentions, were probably engine fires. Not something that I want to take a chance with. Roe's work on Rochester carbs is important because the Rochesters, especially the Quadrajet, are vastly underated. There is a very good chance that you could run a Quadrajet on your vehicle and gain fuel efficiency without sacrificing power. In this day and age, that is no small consideration. On a 327 I've run three Quadrajets (#7045263, 7043250, and 7029207) against an out of the box fresh Holley 6619. The best Quadrajet, which happened to be new also, beat the Holley on an identical course by about two miles per gallon with no perceived loss of performance! My motivation to run the Quadrajet came largely from Roe's book. If you would like to read more about the Quadrajet - Holley comparison, type the carburetor numbers and Holley into a search engine. Having read just about everything in print regarding Rochester carburetors and having rebuilt somewhere between fifty and one hundred Quadrajets over the last twenty years or so, I strongly recommend this book. In short, if I was looking to buy a book on Quadrajet carbs, this is the book I would buy. Roe does the builder a huge service with the many photos he uses to accompany the text. He also

The best book on Rochesters. And a very reputable seller. Many thanks.

I'm like a lot of you shade tree restorers out there; not much I won't tackle, but certain things are a bit too scary to try. Rebuilding the carburetor was one of those things. I bought this book, as well as the Haynes Rochester book just to cover my bases. If you want to try a rebuild, I'd recommend you have both books. There are some minor gaps in this book that Haynes will cover, and vice versa (for example, Haynes recommends Loc-Tite for throttle body screws, which can work loose and fall in the engine, Roe did not mention this potential issue). The Haynes book does a better job covering other Rochester carbs, including a side by side guide for rebuilding the DualJet and QuadraJet, though the side by side instructions can be confusing at times. Roe was better organized in this regard. The pictures in Roe are better, and the high quality paper makes it a little easier to read and handle as you work. If you are doing a QJet rebuild, Roe is your book I was able to get through a QJet rebuild in a very measured, cautious six hours. The carb worked flawlessly the first time, thanks to this book.

I LOVE this book. I run Holleys and Quadrajets depending on application but for quadrajets, this book rocks. It gives superb technical information beyond just available jet sizes, such as a chart of metering rods(primary and secondary) their sizes at what part of taper and the designation letters AND the chart is build from rich to lean so it is an AWESOME tuning tool. It has a chapter on performance mods and a little bit about other rochester carbs such as the vintage 4GC, an early 4 barrel used on 50's and 60's cars and still active in nostalgia class drags. Also a short chapter on the two different type 2 barrels but mainly this book is for four barrel carbs since they have more variables to try to tune than a 1 or 2 barrel. It covers both models of the quadrajet, early and late, not including the computer feedback design quads. So, I give the book a big 2 thumbs up!

This is the single best carburetor book I have ever read! Read it cover to cover. Bought The book in '73 and am thinking of buing it again because the old one is getting a bit worn from use.