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Hey everyone!! new to the site, just wanted to say from all the pics i have seen, WOW! you all have some great looking rides!
So I inherited a 72 442 Cutlass Supreme from my father. He was second owner. I don't think its 100% original, but was converted to 442. I was having fuel issues last year, so i brought to mechanic, and he told me the carb was worn out, and i needed a new one, and a rebuild wouldn't suffice. I don't know if i got had here or what. So long story short, we bought one from Autoline and the car hasn't ran proper since. It seems to run fine when just cruising but when you put the accelerator down a little to much it chugs big time. I am not happy with the mechanic and i took the car back, as the car wouldn't even start properly. My fathers friend ended up moving back into our neighborhood so he helped us out. He adjusted the choke, so now it starts fine. We ended up, replacing points, plugs and wires, adjusted timing, replaced the fuel filter, pump, gas tank and sending unit. Car hasn't changed. at all. Almost seems like the rear barrels wont open. Can anyone guide me in getting this car to running properly again? i hope i have given enough information, if not i will gladly give you whatever you need. The car is A 72 cutlass supreme 442, 4 barrel carb, 350. Thank you all for your time.
Last edited by morello72442; May 30, 2021 at 05:03 AM.
I’ll assume your original carb was a Rochester Quadra jet . More than likely your mechanic wouldn’t know how to properly rebuild and tune a quadrajet so the easy answer for him was to buy a new carb . I would send your original carb to quality shop that knows these carbs and have it rebuilt . If it is in fact “ worn out “ you can get a replacement core rebuilt . Do your homework on a good rebuilder ! Before I learned how to build a quadrajet I bought one from a guy who supposedly had building carbs for years and it turned out to be a piece of junk that I fought to get my money back.
yes sorry, original was a Rochester q jet. I did NOT send the core back, so I still have it sitting in the box the new one came in. OK, I will do that. Hopefully someone in my area has the experience with these as I know the talent with carbs is getting almost extinct around here. If someone happens to know of a quality person in Canada (live in Ontario), or even US for that matter, I have 0 issues having to send it out. I have been looking up repair kits and even been looking at videos, I was going to even try the rebuild myself if its something I could manage from research and YouTube videos lol I will report back, again, thank you for the advice!!
Do you recommend any place specific for the rebuild kits? only one i can seem to find is through rockauto. And they seem to cheap, I believe around 25 bucks plus shipping.
The rebuild kits are inexspensive. Sometimes you need more than the rebuild kits provide like a float, or the throttle shafts bushed etc then it gets more expensive.
the rebuild itself is not difficult. If you get the service manual ( an invaluable tool) it will show you all the adjustments to make to the carb that allow it to work like new.
my original carb needs the throttle shafts bushed, in the interim i bought the autoline carb as well. Before using it tho i went thru and set it up for my 455 w different jets. I added an electric choke and made the adjustments per the manual ( none of the multiple adjustments were spot on) The carb works very well now.
the secondaries have a lock out so they dont activate when the choke is on and they wont activate just revving the throttle in park.
yes sorry, original was a Rochester q jet. I did NOT send the core back, so I still have it sitting in the box the new one came in. OK, I will do that. Hopefully someone in my area has the experience with these as I know the talent with carbs is getting almost extinct around here. If someone happens to know of a quality person in Canada (live in Ontario), or even US for that matter, I have 0 issues having to send it out. I have been looking up repair kits and even been looking at videos, I was going to even try the rebuild myself if its something I could manage from research and YouTube videos lol I will report back, again, thank you for the advice!!
Do you recommend any place specific for the rebuild kits? only one i can seem to find is through rockauto. And they seem to cheap, I believe around 25 bucks plus shipping.
Wonderful news that you still have your carburetor. I would suggest that you send your carb to a Quadrajet specialist. Everyday Performance, Cliff Ruggles, Sparky's, etc. and have your rebuilt and "tuned" for your car. Others can chime in with links. It might run even better than it has before.
.......Just my two cents worth.
Get a kit from Cliff Ruggles, the SR kits are nice. It also probably needs the bushings added to at least the primary throttle shafts due to wear. Cliff offers a kit with instructions for that as well. Good luck.
Do you know what carb is currently on the car? We may be able to help you get it running well so that you can enjoy driving the car while the original carb is being refurbished. Some pictures of the currently installed carb would help.
Awesome! I will look into it and grab one asap. As for the service manual, is it the Oldsmobile one, or like a quadra jet specific one? All I know is the carb is a 4 barrel Rochester q jet, when i ordered i took the number off the original and put it in rockauto and what looked to be the exact same one so I bought it, also looked into the other part numbers at the bottom of the page for the autoline and it had it in there, but i notice this one has the same number but the last digit on my old one is a 6 and this one is a 7. I have never worked on carbs before but i am mechanically inclined and can follow directions like a champ haha. i tooks some pics of my car and the carb with numbers. Hope this all helps.
Any reman carb is a huge crap shoot. Some of us had good ones, mostly the Holley reman carbs. Quite a few have had bad running carbs out of the box. If your motor is stock, a thorough rebuild including bushing the throttle plate should give you a perfect running car. Also make sure the poor running isn't ignition related.
Last edited by olds 307 and 403; May 30, 2021 at 12:58 PM.
Any reman carb is a huge crap shoot. Some of us had good ones, mostly the Holley reman carbs. Quite a few have had bad running carbs out of the box. If your motor is stock, a thorough rebuild including bushing the throttle plate should give you a perfect running car. Also make sure the poor running isn't ignition related.
Yes car is all stock. I really don't think its ignition, we had the points done, new cap and rotor, plugs and wires all done. The car runs great besides when you want to get on it. As long as i dont give it to much throttle i can get upwards of 70-80 mph. As soon as I really press the accelerator it chugs. I mean i could be wrong though, maybe something i am missing? I did notice the carb number is 17056257, which i found out the last digit means its for manual transmission. Could this be the problem? my old one is 17056256 which is auto trans. I am ordering the service repair manual off rockauto tonight. Hopefully comes quick.
Just for info purposes, your car is a Cutlass S, which is what a 442 hardtop is based on, not a Cutlass Supreme. A CS, has the formal roofline and upgraded upholstery and door panels.
Secondly, the original carb for a 72 350 4bbl. Is 7042250. A 455 would be 7042251 and a 455 W30 would have a 7042953 carb. Carbs starting with a 1 were from later years. You can also tell it's a newer carb is the vacuum pull off on the rear passenger side. The intake or engine is from a late year as I see an EGR valve on the drivers side intake. What letter heads do you have? None of this means you cant get it set up properly, but you may be looking at incorrect specs for your situation. Nice looking Cutlass.
Call Ken @ Everyday Performance, box that original carb and send it to him. Explain as best you can what exactly that engine is and what you want
The intake raises questions as to what is beneath it but if you can id whether it is the 72 engine or a later one that will help. The carb on your car may not even be an Olds spec carb and is a bulk reman unit that may have little relevance to your engine
Chances are that when you get the carb back it will bolt on and be very close to perfect, might need 2 or 3 little adjustments but that’s it. You might be able to tune the reman up with help from people here but you’re trying to prep Frankencarb for a talent show, no telling what parts and sins it contains or how much improvement you can make.
Any of the carb guys mentioned can do you right and make that QuadraJet do what it's supposed to. They're one of the finest carb designs ever, it's just that most don't understand them. Why the hell people stick a 750 Holley on an engine when any garden variety QJet is rated 735 cfm, I'll never understand.
I will add one thing. Order a new steel fuel line from Fusick, Year One or any of the Olds parts vendors. Then put that inline filter on the SUCTION side of the fuel pump. It will keep crud out of your fuel pump and the filter at the carb inlet fitting will last much longer. And you won't have a pressurized leak point.
Those carbs are both wrong. Those are 1976 carbs, they are very lean on the idle circuits. With a recalibration they are superior to any early carb and flow 800 cfm vs your stock 72 750 cfm carb. What secondary hanger and rods are in that carb? Try swapping the hanger and rods from your other carb
and check the air door tension.
Cliffs High Performance: https://cliffshighperformance.com/
Sells the best rebuild kits. Will return phone calls. Prefers to talk vs email. Know what you want with realistic expectations.
He will rebush the original throttle body for $60. He will verify the progressive secondary opening timing as well. Fairly quick turnaround on TBs, Longer wait on a full rebuild.
If you are handy with a finer level of mechanical aptitude and detail and don't have the bull-in-a-china shop tendencies you can handle a QJ rebuild.
Buy his book.
Details are knowing where to look for the problem spots, warpage, leaking throttle shaft bushings, broken parts, stripped filter housing in the bowl.
The key to a good rebuild is a thorough inspection before rebuilding.
I used Everyday Performance. My idle mix was way too lean with a 1.5 to 1 increase in compression. I made the APT adjustable before I sent it to him. Ken fixed that and it ran quite well. Then a year or two down the road, the Choke starting sticking on. Ken sent me some replacement linkage but they were from an earlier carb and didn't work right. Ultimately once the choke pieces separate and have play they need replaced. I stole the linkage off a Dualjet. Cliff Ruggles had no kind things to say about Qjets he had in his shop from Everyday Performance. I will be opening up that Everyday Performance carb very soon and doing a total rebuild with primary shaft bushings, Ken did the secondary bushings. As said, get his book, make the APT adjustable, get his SR or HP kit and his custom 44 primary rods. Good luck.
Last edited by olds 307 and 403; May 31, 2021 at 05:11 AM.
Just for info purposes, your car is a Cutlass S, which is what a 442 hardtop is based on, not a Cutlass Supreme. A CS, has the formal roofline and upgraded upholstery and door panels.
Secondly, the original carb for a 72 350 4bbl. Is 7042250. A 455 would be 7042251 and a 455 W30 would have a 7042953 carb. Carbs starting with a 1 were from later years. You can also tell it's a newer carb is the vacuum pull off on the rear passenger side. The intake or engine is from a late year as I see an EGR valve on the drivers side intake. What letter heads do you have? None of this means you cant get it set up properly, but you may be looking at incorrect specs for your situation. Nice looking Cutlass.
Thank you very much for the info!! and thanks for the compliments. I am going to have to ask my dad what the details are. When i checked what the numbers mean on the carb i did notice that is was for 76-82 model years. I need to do some research before i delve into this to make sure i get it right.
Call Ken @ Everyday Performance, box that original carb and send it to him. Explain as best you can what exactly that engine is and what you want
The intake raises questions as to what is beneath it but if you can id whether it is the 72 engine or a later one that will help. The carb on your car may not even be an Olds spec carb and is a bulk reman unit that may have little relevance to your engine
Chances are that when you get the carb back it will bolt on and be very close to perfect, might need 2 or 3 little adjustments but that’s it. You might be able to tune the reman up with help from people here but you’re trying to prep Frankencarb for a talent show, no telling what parts and sins it contains or how much improvement you can make.
how can i identify the motor? i really don't want anything special. I am looking for longevity and reliability over big performance. It has/had enough power for my needs. I just want to be able to drive it normal with no issues lol I will look into them as well. Thank you so much, you all are giving me so much info! great community
I used Everyday Performance. My idle mix was way too lean with a 1.5 to 1 increase in compression. I made the APT adjustable before I sent it to him. Ken fixed that and it ran quite well. Then a year or two down the road, the Choke starting sticking on. Ken sent me some replacement linkage but they were from an earlier carb and didn't work right. Ultimately once the choke pieces separate and have play they need replaced. I stole the linkage off a Dualjet. Cliff Ruggles had no kind things to say about Qjets he had in his shop from Everyday Performance. I will be opening up that Everyday Performance carb very soon and doing a total rebuild with primary shaft bushings, Ken did the secondary bushings. As said, get his book, make the APT adjustable, get his SR or HP kit and his custom 44 primary rods. Good luck.
ok, so i will lean towards Cliff Ruggles. I feel like a total newb haha, i don't really know what a lot of the things you are saying means. I need to really brush up on all this stuff. I wish I was more help and had more answers. Thank you!!
Morello, to ID the engine, you should get the engine block ID above the water pump, and the head ID of each head in its lower left corner. The VIN derivative is on a pad on the engine as shown. This will get you close, then there's intake and exhaust and distributor, and carb, and trans and rear end codes.
The engine number is a casting number code with a big number or letter at the end. So, you can say, I have a 2 block with 7 heads or something like that. The vin derivative will help us date it and know if it's the original engine or not.
Typed this early this morning, thought I lost it & had to leave. Thx to Koda for illustrating it. Posting it now for what it’s worth.
Ruggles is likely “the guy” for Qjet but last I remember he was 6-18 months backlogged on rebuilds, don’t know if that’s accurate or not. First time I heard negative feedback on EDP. One other good source is Bob Stone (Carb Doctor classiccarb@aol) in Line Lexington, PA but I’m not sure if he’s still in the game.
With no insult intended I think you’re out of your depth on this. By the time you buy bushing kits, tiny drill bits, rebuild kits, well plug kit, etc you are a good part of the way to a pro restoration and calibration. You might be able to feel your way through with some success but still left with an old looking carb, if that matters.
It would help if you can figure out what that engine is.
Casting #s on block above timing case (between front of intake and water pump)
Casting #s on heads (front corner of driver head and rear corner passenger head. ie 5, 6, 7, 8....)
Bonus - Vin derivative from block (small horizontal pad on driver front corner, horizontal stamped #s as viewed from side or slight front)
The car runs great besides when you want to get on it. As long as i dont give it to much throttle i can get upwards of 70-80 mph. As soon as I really press the accelerator it chugs.
Sounds like something is wrong with the secondaries. I suggest looking at the secondary metering rod hanger to ensure the rods are both attached correctly. I recall a time when one of mine came loose and at full throttle the engine would bog down horribly.
Below are pics of the secondary metering rods and hanger installed in the carb (left, yellow arrow) and removed from the carb.
Sounds like something is wrong with the secondaries. I suggest looking at the secondary metering rod hanger to ensure the rods are both attached correctly. I recall a time when one of mine came loose and at full throttle the engine would bog down horribly.
Below are pics of the secondary metering rods and hanger installed in the carb (left, yellow arrow) and removed from the carb.
Exactly, make sure everything is together properly. The Everyday Performance Qjet was Cliff Ruggles opinion, he gave me examples, won't go into it here. Mine ran much better after the returning from EDP. I will do some rough measurements on that carb soon. Hopefully it is simple. It would not surprise me if there is a complete 76 455 under the hood.
Typed this early this morning, thought I lost it & had to leave. Thx to Koda for illustrating it. Posting it now for what it’s worth.
Ruggles is likely “the guy” for Qjet but last I remember he was 6-18 months backlogged on rebuilds, don’t know if that’s accurate or not. First time I heard negative feedback on EDP. One other good source is Bob Stone (Carb Doctor classiccarb@aol) in Line Lexington, PA but I’m not sure if he’s still in the game.
With no insult intended I think you’re out of your depth on this. By the time you buy bushing kits, tiny drill bits, rebuild kits, well plug kit, etc you are a good part of the way to a pro restoration and calibration. You might be able to feel your way through with some success but still left with an old looking carb, if that matters.
It would help if you can figure out what that engine is.
Casting #s on block above timing case (between front of intake and water pump)
Casting #s on heads (front corner of driver head and rear corner passenger head. ie 5, 6, 7, 8....)
Bonus - Vin derivative from block (small horizontal pad on driver front corner, horizontal stamped #s as viewed from side or slight front)
No insult to me at all! i always look at it as constructive criticism. But i am eager to learn. I have already learned more about this car in the last few days that i have my entire life. I will most definitely send it out for rebuild. When it comes back, and its working i will mess around with the reman for sure. Only way to learn i guess.
Also the number on the intake manifold looked to be 411990. The other casting numbers were the firing order. I hope those numbers are right. If not, just let me know what other info i need to get.
Last edited by morello72442; Jun 1, 2021 at 06:45 AM.
Also the number on the intake manifold looked to be 411990. The other casting numbers were the firing order. I hope those numbers are right. If not, just let me know what other info i need to get.
Straight down from the 7A in the pic is where your engine VIN derivitive number is.
3= Oldsmobile Division
2= 1972 model year
M= Lansing assembly plant
172198= VIN of car the engine came in. If it matches your VIN it's original engine.
Don't think anyone's mentioned it but a 1972 442 could have had a 350, either 2 or 4 barrel and either single or dual exhaust.
Look under the back end and see if it has a rear sway bar and boxed rear lower control arms. That's a good indication of a W29 optioned car.
Last edited by rocketraider; Jun 1, 2021 at 10:29 AM.
I guess I should have paid attention to the colour of the motor under the hood and intake width. That 76 carb, especially with the EGR intake will work with just a rebuild on a stock 8 to 1 350.
