Looking for Rochester Carburetor

[Ken D.]

Just joined and picked up a 71 convertible last week vin# 71-01781. When car was delivered to me (out of state internet purchase) it had a Holly carb. My research indicates that it should be Rochester Q-Jet #7041212. As I'm the 4th owner, a resto doc sheet stated that a new (Holly) carb was put on around 2004. Can anyone tell me how or if it's even feasible to look for said stamped Rochester Q-Jet? BTW where do you find the ID Q-Jet # on the carb? Eckler's shows remanufactured Rochester but notes it will not be stamped with the 7041212 no. Same problem w/the alternator. How can I find an alternator w/# 1100950? Any help greatly appreciated.

[Don L.]

[Mark E.]

Re: Looking for Rochester Carburetor

Welcome to the hobby and the club Ken! 1971 is a beautiful year- one of my favorites.

Does the car have a spread bore Holley (a Q-Jet direct replacement) bolted to an original style spread bore intake manifold? Or was the original intake replaced with a square bore flange manifold and carburetor? This will tell you if you need to replace the manifold too.

The carb number and date is stamped on the left side of the fuel bowl. The one below is dated the 272nd day of 1969. Google (and maybe a search on this forum) will find a lot of sites that decipher the carb number meaning for you. It's also explained in the Chevy parts catalogs.

I recommend eBay for your search. You can set up an alert to receive an email when a prospect is added. Watch out for re-stamps, especially for the more valuable PNs. You'll also find over restored units that are also over priced but don't judge well. They are recognized by the excessive plating... on some even the bolts are plated. My favorite find a a relatively unmolested core.

And do your homework; things to watch for include: stripped inlet threads, warped air horn, a cobbled together Frankenstein unit, cracked or damaged castings, porous casting, broken, bent or missing hardware, worn throttle bushings, poorly aligned throttle plates, bastardized air bleeds,... Most of these can be corrected but with added cost.

When you find a solid core, I recommend sending it to Cliff Ruggles at cliffshighperformance.com . He can make just about any core run and look like new for you.

Good luck and have fun!

EDIT: I don't recommend commercially "re-manufactured" units, from Eckler's or anywhere else (nothing against Ecklers; just re-manufactured Q-Jets). These high volume operations rebuild in batches using semi-skilled labor with little regard about keeping original parts together. So you typically end up with a Frankenstein with mismatched bowl, air horn, throttle plate along with other random components. And then it's a surprise why it doesn't perform properly.

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[Ken D.]

Re: Looking for Rochester Carburetor

GRAZIE Don, I appreciate the info and I will definitely check with David and Ken on this. I love the car it's been a life long dream to own one so the saga begins. It's currently painted classic white I think with a nice base and clear coat. There are a few minor chips and one hairline "crease" about 1/4 inch long right under driver side door handle but doesn't break through clear coat surface. Everything on dash panel works incl. clock (most I've researched didn't have working clock) and best of all documented mileage is now 36,620. Appears to have been meticulously maintained and for the most part (i.e. Carb & Alternator) is original w/matching nos. drive train. Previous owner installed a 6 CD changer bolted behind pass seat w/speakers in rear compartment which I'm contemplating removing. I would eventually like to get it to Top Flight for just one show! Previous owner ran high octane ethanol based which I'm thinking of going to non-ethanol with an octane booster. Any thoughts there? Thanks again and hope to get a lot more involved here as things progress w/Ruby (wife named her based on our 40th Anniversary). CIAO

[Ken D.]

Re: Looking for Rochester Carburetor

GRAZIE to you as well Mark. Wow a lot of specific great info and I can see this is going to be an educate myself challenge that will probably go on for as long as I stay on this side of the ground! I will definitely check out the Holley carb number and consult w/my mechanic to try and figure out what is going on and why this carb may have been used in the restoration process. See my response to Don for addtnl info on "Ruby". I'll let you know what I find out. Front Driver Side.jpg

[Joe L.]

Re: Looking for Rochester Carburetor

GRAZIE Don, I appreciate the info and I will definitely check with David and Ken on this. I love the car it's been a life long dream to own one so the saga begins. It's currently painted classic white I think with a nice base and clear coat. There are a few minor chips and one hairline "crease" about 1/4 inch long right under driver side door handle but doesn't break through clear coat surface. Everything on dash panel works incl. clock (most I've researched didn't have working clock) and best of all documented mileage is now 36,620. Appears to have been meticulously maintained and for the most part (i.e. Carb & Alternator) is original w/matching nos. drive train. Previous owner installed a 6 CD changer bolted behind pass seat w/speakers in rear compartment which I'm contemplating removing. I would eventually like to get it to Top Flight for just one show! Previous owner ran high octane ethanol based which I'm thinking of going to non-ethanol with an octane booster. Any thoughts there? Thanks again and hope to get a lot more involved here as things progress w/Ruby (wife named her based on our 40th Anniversary). CIAO

Ken------

Unless this engine has been seriously modified, it should absolutely not require high octane fuel. In fact, 87 octane regular should run just fine. If it doesn't 'ping' with this fuel, higher octane is not going to get you anything more than a lighter wallet.

[Ken D.]

Re: Looking for Rochester Carburetor

Thanks for the info on petrol Joe, I think I'm going to try non-ethanol which is 89 octane and see how she runs on that.