Thermoquad,304 4 barrel,observation

[garry rudd <grudd@domain.elided>]

Hello all,

First off, do any of you with the factory Thermoquads know where rebuild
kits can be bought? Talked to a fellow today, supposedly a carb expert, who
said they don't exist. Hmmm, maybe, but dosen't sound right. This fellow
also told me that that Edelbrock/Carter 4 barrels would burn the valves up
if put on an International, hmmm I wonder if this fellow has his shop
ventilated? Anyhow, a source for rebuild kits would be appreciated. Much to
my dismay I finally concluded that my Holley 2 barrel has been flaking chips
of galvinized metal in the float bowl. Nothing has been passing through my
two in line fuel filters, but on three ocassions in four months I have had
to take the carb apart due to fuel starvation and each time I found one or
two flakes in the bowl. Getting real sick and tired of this I told Mark
Drake at Scout Madness to make me a manifold that would allow putting a 4
barrel on my 304. Just installed it, put an Edelbrock 500cfm on it, and must
say it runs real sweet! Starts instantly, idles rock smooth, and I would say
that the performance has improved by about 40%. Looking forward to checking
out my mileage this weekend. Finally, one thing about having a number of
Internationals sitting around is that I have been able to compare various
changes. Walking across the yard this afternoon I noticed that the frame on
the 79 parts Traveler I just picked was substantially reinforced under the
front floorboards compared to my 76 Scout. The Traveler has two rather heavy
pieces of box steel which run from the frame towards the rocker panels
underneath both seats. These are 2 1/2" x 2 1/2", 1/8" thick box steel
pieces which have 3" x 1 1/2" pieces of box steel welded to the bottom of
them. My guess is that this was added for side impact protection. Good idea!
Another project.

Regards,

Garry