swapping carbs: rochester to quadratec EMPI

my 2.8 runs horrible! took it to my mechanic and was advised carb has seen better days! after some searching i took the advise to dump the rochester carb for a weber 38/38 or quadratec EMPI 38/38. i chose the EMPI due to it's $100 cheaper.
for you guys who have done this swap, any pointers on the process? i already ripped all my smog stuff off! just have to weld up the air holes in the manifolds.
it's going to be nice to have an eletric choke! the old carb had a manual choke that hardly worked. when it did work it would get stuck in high idle!

one more question: do all 2.8's take forever to get heat? i was thinking about putting a piece of cardboard in front of the radiator to help it warm up faster. any ideas? TIA!! you all have a great thanksgiving!

tobaccogrower said:

my 2.8 runs horrible! took it to my mechanic and was advised carb has seen better days! after some searching i took the advise to dump the rochester carb for a weber 38/38 or quadratec EMPI 38/38. i chose the EMPI due to it's $100 cheaper.
for you guys who have done this swap, any pointers on the process? i already ripped all my smog stuff off! just have to weld up the air holes in the manifolds.
it's going to be nice to have an eletric choke! the old carb had a manual choke that hardly worked. when it did work it would get stuck in high idle!

one more question: do all 2.8's take forever to get heat? i was thinking about putting a piece of cardboard in front of the radiator to help it warm up faster. any ideas? TIA!! you all have a great thanksgiving!

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#1 sounds like you need to replace the thermostat and the pressure cap, maybe flush the system. Cardboard is a bandaid in less then sub zero temps.
#2 not sure on the 2.8 but I bought the webber for our 89YJ, got it from collins jeep, was a complete package. Jeep had some other issues but after a couple of weeks we got it pretty stable but there were still other issuses involved. I did go thru it and replace EVERY vacumn line and fitting in there. I also would not weld the fitings, cap as needed. In our case the webber used almost all the same fittings and connections as the stock carter BBL that was in there.

i replaced coolant and thermostat. my uncle who gave me the jeep says it always took forever to heat up(he bought it new). also with over 200,000miles on the jeep i doubt the air line fittings will come out of the exhaust manifold! maybe i'm wrong. if i can get them out where can i get plugs? i would assume they are probally some strange thread type.

Wait till you get the weber, it will have complete hookup instructions, I would not just start cutting and welding stuff till you know whats what. Just a suggestion. There are also some 'how to's on the newsgroups. I just don't have them anymore. Maybe a search of '2.8 and weber conversion' might bring up some more info. I know that that 2.8L carb that GM used on the 2.8 in 82 was one expensive SOB when I considered replacing it on my 82 S-10 before I just ran about 5 bottles of valvoline fuel system cleaner thru the fuel system, the cleaners solved my problem but it was just build up after 380,000mi, though I did have to open it up and clean the float bowl out, float would stick intermittantly and I'd just die for about 10 seconds then it would drop and open the flow back up.
One comment, if I was going to buy another weber I'd get it from redline direct or from http://www.webercarburetors.com/ppw/html/aplication_guide/jeep.htm redline has the best support though.m Collins brother jeep was less than satisfactory as far as support goes and their 'its all in the instructions' did not make me a happy camper after fighting with it for 5 hours and not being able to get it to run more for more than 3 minutes, my XJ and it's tow strap got a work out that day..

RedLine does not sell direct....I called them for a jet kit, and they referred me to a different company to get the parts...the carb will be a HUGE improvement over the old rochester feedback carb for sure....as for the Weber vs Empi thing....they LOOK identical even tho they are not both called Weber....possibly Empi is having them branded by Weber, or they have a manufacturing agreement to have them built under license other than in Italy.

I do know that at one point, they were virtually unavailable due to labor problems in Italy...as far as kits go...get a specific kit for the application.. I bought my "kit" from Clifford, and got a generic carb with a bunch of generic brackets...was a booger to set up, and the base jetting was a mile off..

RedLine did give me some pretty sound tech support...the only other thing is the "air cleaner" that comes with the kit is not much good for offroad...little rectangular "k&n" style gause element...K&N makes a adapter to use a regular 4 1/8" neck filter housing...I used that and a modified stock air filter housing from some sort of old Ford engine to build a sealed filter with a flex hose connected to the cowl vent area...

MudDawg said:

RedLine does not sell direct....I called them for a jet kit, and they referred me to a different company to get the parts...the carb will be a HUGE improvement over the old rochester feedback carb for sure....as for the Weber vs Empi thing....they LOOK identical even tho they are not both called Weber....possibly Empi is having them branded by Weber, or they have a manufacturing agreement to have them built under license other than in Italy.

I do know that at one point, they were virtually unavailable due to labor problems in Italy...as far as kits go...get a specific kit for the application.. I bought my "kit" from Clifford, and got a generic carb with a bunch of generic brackets...was a booger to set up, and the base jetting was a mile off..

RedLine did give me some pretty sound tech support...the only other thing is the "air cleaner" that comes with the kit is not much good for offroad...little rectangular "k&n" style gause element...K&N makes a adapter to use a regular 4 1/8" neck filter housing...I used that and a modified stock air filter housing from some sort of old Ford engine to build a sealed filter with a flex hose connected to the cowl vent area...

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Yea, but when you call redline for tech support the first question is 'whats on the outside of the white box it was shipped in' they want to make sure it's one of theirs bought thru whatever vendor. If you don't give the correct answer thats it for tech support from them.