R&R,
Try getting Doug Roe's book titled, "Rochester Carburetors". The book has a lot of good tips on how to rebuild and tune the Q-Jet.
I had a guy near me, Jim McGowan (e-mail
[email protected]) from Rockford, IL. disassemble, clean and rebush the throttle shafts on a base plate for a '70 GTO carb (#7040264). It cost me $75, including shipping. I haven't built the carb yet, but there is no play in the shafts; they were pretty sloppy before.
A rebuild kit costs about $20 and a new float runs about $10. Edlebrock Q-Jet primary rods and jets, secondary rods, accelerator pump, power piston springs and needles and seats (all available from Summit) are direct bolt-ins for the stock Rochester stuff (pre-'75). You could redo your own carb for less than $130, including the base plate rebuild. And as Tim said, you'd be able to fix it yourself if the need ever arose.
As for your lean out, try a little fatter secondary rod. Don't know what you have now, but Doug Roe's book has all the listings and sizes of Q-Jet primary and secondary rods.
Also, there are several good carb rebuilders who post in these forums (carbking is one who comes to mind) who may be able to take care of your worn throttle shaft problem.
The Q-Jet is easy to rebuild, it just takes a little time and patience.
Hope this helps.
[ May 09, 2002, 10:26 PM: Message edited by: goathead68 ]