edelbrock 1905 and ca smog

[mrscullini]

'79 sII, 345 all stock

well, it's time to smog again and the edelbrock 1406 that is on there will not pass visual. need to talk with my local tech and see if a 1400 will pass. it has a CARB E.O. number, but specific to GM vehicle. the 1400 is cheap and easy to tune so this is what i would like

the 1905 has an E.O. number specific to IH. just from pics, it looks like a more complicated carb and they are not cheap, if you can find them. it is also a bigger carb, 795 cfm, i think.

what are thoughts on the 1905? how does it work on the 345?

[ihpartsjeff]

I ran a 1905 for years. Good carb! Ran even better after I had a carb rebuilder in Arizona rebuild it. He had found that the secondary throttle shaft was not machined correctly keeping one of the blades cracked open a little making it hard to tune the idle. Once that was fixed it ran awesome and was almost as good as fuel injection when wheeling.

[mrscullini]

Originally Posted by ihpartsjeff

I ran a 1905 for years. Good carb! Ran even better after I had a carb rebuilder in Arizona rebuild it. He had found that the secondary throttle shaft was not machined correctly keeping one of the blades cracked open a little making it hard to tune the idle. Once that was fixed it ran awesome and was almost as good as fuel injection when wheeling.

thanks jeff. any tips on where to locate a 1905? between, summit, jegs, ebay, amazon, etc, i can only find 1 on ebay for $900. this was a refurbed unit, not cheap.

also saw a refurbed quadrajet unit in the IH Store. is this a CARB legal unit?

[ihpartsjeff]

1905's have been discontinued for a long time that's why you can't find any. Sorry not CARB legal. From the manufacturer - Calibrated for small block engines up to 400 CID. Not legal for sale or use in California on any pollution controlled motor vehicles.

[Dealbreaker74]

I've been running a Q Jet on my '79 for 5 years. Several different smog shops have tested it, and no one either knows or cares that its not the T-Quad it should be. All of the vacuum lines and evap fume stuff are in place, so visually, it looks the part.
The one thing that I have had issues with is the part where they pressurize the fuel system using a special gas cap. It has to hold pressure for 10 sec or so. I've had to replace lines back near the tank to pass on more than one occasion. Also had an operator fail me (or try to) for a leaky gas cap. They pressurize that too. I showed him it was brand new that day (box and receipt). Miraculously, it passed the second time....
Not sure if this is any help or encouragement. Just telling you it can be done, even in smog Nazi SoCal. Just find a Q-Jet with a bowl vent to make the vac canister look right.