Ive recently become the new papa of a 68 delta 88 town sedan with the 455 and it has some issues, it has an offenhauser (spl?) Intake and a quadrajet that will only run on full choke and im trying to figure out what other carbs will fit this intake. Is it a squarebore intake? Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance. Also im not too familiar with olds and this is my first one

 

Have you considered rebuilding the QuadraJet? They are not difficult to work on, and whatever the issue is may be simple to correct. I remember being intimidated by mine back in high school, but once I got it apart and saw how simple it was (and how few parts there were) all of my concerns vanished. Now I'm fairly good at rebuilding and tuning them.

 

I did until i looked closer, its missing quite a few parts and kind of just wired together, and id rather just go all new instead of rebuild even though i know they are great carbs properly tuned. Im just fairly ignorant when it comes to them youll have to forgive me lol

 

Do you have a model for the Offy iintake, perhaps a picture of where the carb mounts minus carb?

 

I canget that as soon as i get home from work, sorry i dont know.more i just got it home last night and havent had a chance to dig into it, also the orecious owner was 18 and said he put in a cam and roller lifters. What scares me is the muffler is completely balooned out and it runs like timing is way out

 

Welcome to the site. I always go through and check all of the tune specs and safety items of any car I buy. Replace plugs, points, condenser, wires, cap, rotor, etc if necessary. Then I check the fuel system, electrical, fix leaks, replace hoses and belts of required, etc. Systematically move throughout the car from operational, safety, and accessories until it runs and operates the way it should. Then I move to aesthetics, paint and interior.


As you found out you are at the mercy of what ever the previous owners had done or not done to a car dating all the way back to 68.

 

The fact that the car only runs at full choke tells me that you have a massive vacuum leak someplace. If the leak is on the manifold, a new carb won't fix the problem. Frankencarb aside, I'd do some no-cost troubleshooting before dropping a few hundred bucks on a new carb.

 

Yeah thats the plan for tonight, including stabbing the hei distributor i have, wiring and completely re timing the car

 

Also i should have mentioned it runs like CRAP even with full choke like it has a massive miss almost, its hard to describe

 

I agree with Joe on the vacuum leak - I thought about that after I posted but was in a meeting all day and couldn't re-post. A vacuum leak could explain why it has that miss as well.

While you're taking pics of the intake manifold, snap several of the carb as well. It might not be as bad as you think and we might be able to help you get it working better.

 

Welcome to CO. Hope that you find where your problem is, I too agree that it could be a vacuum issue.