I got this car because those kinds of cars are mostly mechanical with very simple electrical wiring....usually. I felt that since they were mechanical, as opposed to all the computerized cars these days, I would learn a lot more about the different systems of a car and just cars in general.
So with that said, I'd like to share my experience with the carburetor.
The carburetor is a mechanical device that basically delivers fuel to your engine. It sits on top the the intake manifold, which sits on top of the engine. Somewhere on the carburetor is this thing called a choke. As far as I can tell, the only thing that a choke does is help start the car. It's called a choke because it restricts airflow from one part of the carburetor so that the intake manifold vacuum can pull a richer mixture of fuel into the engine.
When I bought the Firebird, it started and ran fine for a while, but then one day, for some reason, it wouldn't start up right away. It took a long time before it started and I had to keep pressing the gas to keep the car on. As soon as I took my foot off of the accelerator, the car shut off. I took my car to a shop to adjust the choke or idle screws (the idle screws control how much air/fuel mixture you want the car to have at idle but they also aid in startup), and they dropped my carburetor. I towed it to another shop because I couldn't stand those shady ass mechanics, and they told me there was a crack on the inside of the carburetor. It was an Edelbrock Quadrajet carburetor.
So I had to get a new carburetor. I thought long and hard about it, between Edelbrock, Holley, Rochester, and Barry Grant's Demon carburetors. I researched on the web and went to Borders and read their carburetion books to help me make my decision. Since I'm new at this and I wanted something that would teach me the quickest and easiest way, I got the Demon carb. It was way more expensive than the other ones, but it seemed clearer to me, so I got it. The Edelbrock and the Holley looked more complicated that what I wanted to mess with, and the Rochester is 20 to 30 year old technology (they stopped making them in the 80s), and the Demon was much, much newer, and when you buy a new Demon carburetor, Barry Grant also sends you a video that shows you how to install it, how to start it, how to adjust the choke, the throttle valves, and the idle screws. Learning by video sounded excellent to me, so that was all the more reason to go with the Demon.
However, my friend Kelcey had a 68 Mustang a few years back and he told me that he ordered an Edelbrock carburetor online, and when he got it in the mail, he opened it up, he took off the old carb from his car, bolted on this new one, and connected two lines - the vacuum hose and the fuel line - and started up the car and drove away.
So I probably would have gone with the Edelbrock if I didn't take it to a shop and if I hadn't already ordered the Demon.
Since I knew nothing about installing carburetors, I wanted a shop to do it. I paid an insane amount of money, although to be fair, half of that was the carburetor itself, which was around $500. I could have done it myself though, I am SURE of that.
Basically, you just do what Kelcey did. You unbolt the old carburetor from the intake manifold...there should be four bolts holding it down...then you remove the vacuum line(s) (some cars might have more than one vacuum line), remove the fuel line, and remove the gasket that was sandwiched between the carb and the intake. Remove the accelerator link also. Then, clean off the little area where you removed the old gasket with a light sandpaper. On my car, I needed an adapter plate for my intake so the Demon carb could go on there, so you put that on the intake manifold, and then put the new gasket over that one. then you bolt on the Demon carb, but don't bolt it on as hard as you can because if you do, you'll break the gasket. Get on there snug, but not like you're going to break something. Hook up the vacuum line(s), and the fuel line. Then hook up the accelerator arm to the throttle linkage. The Demon carburetor video shows you how to do all of this. Press on the accelerator arm a few times to prime the carburetor, which means to put a little gasoline into the float boals of the carburetor, so that it can start easier.
Put the air cleaner back on.
Crank the engine, and it should start. If not, crank it again, and maybe a third time, and it should fire right up. Let the car sit for a bit so that it can warm up. After it's warmed up some, drive it around the block to see what it's like; you'll probably have to do a little tuning to make it idle the way you want to via the idle speed and idle mixture screws. Here's where the idle speed and idle mixture screws are on my Demon carburetor (click on the pic to view a larger version of the image):
Here's the other side:
Now for my car, with the spacer, the hood wouldn't shut. So what I had to do was get a different air cleaner. I got a Mr. Gasket drop base air cleaner. The hood cleared fine.
Next I'll talk about hooking up an aftermarket tachometer.