Q-Jet Tuning

by 76 Malibu Thu Jul 04, 2024 11:17 pm

I am working on fine tuning my Q-Jet on my car. It is not original to the car. The specs are as follows:

Cab #: 17082283
Prim Jets: 76
Prim Rods: 44B
Secondary Rods: CH

The carb was rebuilt with a Cliff's High performance kit and speced out by Cliff Ruggles.

I got the primaries pretty dialed in. This car seems to cruise well at a leaner mixture, and have settled at about 15:1 to 16:1 for light cruise (varies depending on speed an load). There is no surge or any other issues. It actually seemed to cruise okay at even leaner mixtures, as much as 17:1, but I didn't want to go too lean. Idle is set to about 13.5:1, as it seemed to like a richer idle (it would surge if much leaner).

My issue is that when I get into the throttle deeper or got to WOT, my mixture is rich, high 11s, low 12s. It also seems somewhat sluggish, like a rich bog. At lower throttle inputs it is very responsive and feels great. Any advice on leaning out the secondary side short of swapping rods?