blue72

This evening I stopped by Lars' house to get and install the loaner carb on my 1972 Camaro.
The previous owner had replaced the original 2 barrel carb with an Edelbrock 600CFM Performer (Carter AFB style). An improvement, certainly, but I was interested in seeing what a properly set up Q-jet could do...
The install was actually quite simple. unbolt the old, bolt in the new, make sure all the lines hooked up. Right off the bat I could tell a difference. Driving around the block, at seemed like throttle response was quicker, the engine climbed to the higher RPMs a little smoother, and there was a little more power at the higher RPMs due the higher CFM of the Q-jet.
But all was not that well.
Lars noticed right away that the engine was missing. I explained that this was because my #7 cylinder was probably fouled, as it's been doing that since I owned that car. We (or rather, Lars) cleaned up that plug and restarted the car. The miss was still there. We checked all the other plugs and cleaned them off and widened the gap a little. The miss was still there. We put it off to a dead cylinder due to worn valve guides.
We checked the timing and found that the distributor was not advancing at all. I was constantly retarded, as Lars put it. :D Checking under the cap showed hideous rusted weights, so Lars made me up a set of his special recurved weights. This solved the problem with the centrifugal advance, but the vacuum advance was still dead. Oh well, I'll have to get that part later and maybe rebuild the distrbutor in the near future. I have a some advance now, at least!
At this point we hadn't quite finished our beers yet, so we went ahead and hooked up a compression tester to that number 7 cylinder. The result was absolutely no compression whatsoever. Very strange. We checked one other cylinder to be sure the tester wasn't broken, and it had plenty of compression (125 psi).
A quick look under the valve cover via the super nifty easy-off cover bolts revealed an intake rocker arm completely askew! No wonder that cylinder was never firing! No fuel could get in because the valve was never opening! That would also explain why my engine was smoking and the plug was fouling. The vacuum formed in the cylinder during the intake stroke was pulling oil past my rings. What a find!
Now, with 8 cylinders and the CorvetteForum Loaner Carb, my Camaro is running better than ever!
Thanks Lars! You da man!
-Jason

mrvette

Way to go Lars, nothing like a hand from someone who knows/cares....

GENE

1LE

Its great to have someone close to you that can help you out. Its seems as if this forum is a big brotherhood, with every one helping each other. I'm glad and proud to be part of this forum. By the way, Lars should be getting my Q-jet today in the mail, hope he can do magic things to it.

ylose

I love the story....

[quote]I was constantly retarded, as Lars put it. :D [ /quote]

bwahaha....this is me too ! But I followed LARS's instructions...and I dont get it...I'm still constantly retarded ! :lol: :lol: :lol:

Alwyn678

Congrats!! I did not know Lars worked on Camaro's!!!! :cheers:

jimduchek

I think Lars can put the smack down on anything with an engine...

Jim

ksbunting

Great story.
I've heard it said that "What you sow, is what you reap" and I hope that Lars is rewarded big time in some way for all the favors and unselfish help he provides again and again to the members of this Forum. Sure does restore one's faith in humanity. I never met the man but I have read the many posts on this forum of greatful people who have been on the receiving end of his knowledge and unselfish generosity. Thank you Lars.

lars

Hey guys!
Thanks for all the kind posts and encouragement..!
This kind of tuning and playing with the cars is just a ton of fun. When Jason came over with his car, it was running a tad rough, but that chrome, new Edelbrock carb really looked good - it was installed clean and done well. I think he had a few second thoughts when I pulled out the Forum Loaner Carb with the rusty airvalves, bad plating, and ugly inlet fitting.... But we slapped it on, and the car immediately came alive in spite of other problems that we soon tackled and fixed. Once we had everything ironed out, the car was scratching rubber in second and third gear, and the Q-Jet just sounds awesome with the secondaries slamming open. Jason is now driving the car around for a few days, and will only bring the carb back if we build him a Q-Jet of his own... :D We might have an Edelbrock Performer carb to enter into the Loaner Program.... :lol:

Chris Fowler

If they ever start human cloning I vote we clone lars first. So we can have one in every state. :D

blue72

And am I ever lucky that you enjoy this sort of thing! I'm driving a completely different car now! I love it!!
Oh man! That is no lie... The only downfall is that it's going to be easier to get myself into trouble now...!
Damn skippy! I can't wait to get my old Q-jet running like this! That Performer carb can be part of the Loaner Program, but who's going to want it?? Heck, I'll have two to throw around, once the Vette is up and running with a different fuel delivery system!
Thanks again, Lars, for helping my car running like this! I just got back from a quick trip downtown and back, and this thing rocks on the highway. I think we need to install some stiffer throttle springs to help keep my foot off the floorboards! :D
-Jason

Shark Racer

Man-oh-man, Lars... you've got me so tempted to drive to Colorado with AFR heads and a new cam in the trunk. :) God knows the kind of trouble I'd get into, testing the motor out on the way home...
How many miles is it to Colorado, anyhow? Maybe us NoCALers should set up a caravan.
-Steve(who was going to send a carb out until his car demanded money be sent elsewhere. *sigh*)