Therm-Quad on my 454?

[blopez]

When I bought my rig (72 jimmy - 454 - 14bolt rear - dana 44 - 39.5 swampers) I noticed that it has a Carter Thermo-Quad carb;
Is this carb worth rebuilding or not the "Carb of Choice" for my application?

 

[pauly383]

Not my first choice , I remember the warped bodies and bad reputation .
I would run a Q-Jet .

This guy loves them though :

http://www.offroadexchange.com/projects/CrtRbld.htm

 

[diesel4me]

not so hot...

The "Thermo Quad" Carter carb was not their best..it had some advantages,but the disadvantages outweighed them for the most part..I sold dozens of Q-jets and Edelbrock Q-jet replacement carbs to motor home owners stranded here when they came to Cape Cod on vacation!...we had so many "rebuilt" Thermo Quads come back"defective",we hated to even sell one after awhile...most of them had cracked bowls,right out of the box!..

That write up listed on the previous post is about the best one I've read!--not many people know much about their quirks,or can successfully rebuild one..we were glad Edelbrock came out with a Q-jet style replacement,and all the motor home folks we talked into buying one were very pleased with the Q-jet replacement carbs--they said it ran stronger and got better gas mileage than the Thermo-quad did(they are one of the biggest stock carbs ever used --800+CFM on some Thermo-Quads! )..

 

[Wahh12]

I agree. The Quads are good for large CFMs but they are prone to having the butterfly shafts wear out and leak. They are also expensive to replace. I just put a Holley 750 on my 454 in my K5 that I got through Auto Zone and once I got it jetted right for the at. it sings. At around $250 for the vacum sec. who could ask for more?

 

[kennyw]

I agree. The Quads are good for large CFMs but they are prone to having the butterfly shafts wear out and leak. They are also expensive to replace. I just put a Holley 750 on my 454 in my K5 that I got through Auto Zone and once I got it jetted right for the at. it sings. At around $250 for the vacum sec. who could ask for more?

I'd ask for a better carb that can take a steep hill climb... or better yet, FUEL INJECTION

 

[3 on the tree]

At one point ,you could buy a 1000cfm Thermo Quad aftermarket. I have run a bunch of them on Mopars over the years and never had any problems with them. I replaced the QJet on my dirttrackeer with a TherQuad and noticed an immediate improvement. The only real problem with them is a lack of rebuilding experience, they are tricky to set up properly.