Sometime in the latter 1970s, we reached peak carburetor. By that I mean the carburetor on the average family sedan, squeezed by the vise of new regulations, achieved its zenith in complexity and parts count. Take the Rochester Quadrajet as an example, suggests my old friend Paul Wright, a Q-jet expert. Initially an elegant four-barrel design with smaller primaries for quicker part-throttle response and efficient cruising, and larger secondaries for ample wide-open roar, it was the mainstay of fuel metering on GM cars for more than a decade after its introduction in 1965.
But by 1975, control devices, pushrods, and cams were growing on it like boils. There were hot-idle compensators, timed canister purge ports, air-valve dashpots, aneroid metering rod assemblies, and thermostatic coils. Pressed by the safety crusaders and…
