350 4 barrel engine
When I got the car, the engine idled poorly, had very little
power and backfired continuously. The first thing looked at was the carburetor.
The metering rods on the Rochester Quadra-jet were shot and I was told it would
be much easier to just replace the whole carb. I did so it with an Edelbrock 650
cfm squarebore. Though I knew the Q-jet was playing a part in the bad
performance, I also knew that wasn't the only problem. I then tested it to see
how the vacuum was on it and that checked out fine. Next I installed new
AC Delco
spark plugs and new plug wires along with
Insultherm
Spark Plug Boot Insulators. Shortly after that, I installed a new alternator
and fuel pump. It still ran rough... real rough. The eventual culprit would be a cracked block and cracked head
that were discovered on an entire engine rebuild. In an attempt to keep the car as original as possible,
the crack in the block was welded tight and the weld was sanded down to an
almost invisible look while the head was replaced with a same casting numbered
head.
Go here to see
pictures of the engine before I bought it
Here are some pictures of the way the engine looked right
before the rebuild.
Click on a thumbnail to enlarge
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