Bent throttle plate

[stushug]

My 1977 Grand Prix with a 400 and Qjet has been running poorly for a while. Last summer I purchased a rebuild kit from Cliff and saw some improvement. I haven't driven the car much, and didn't have a lot of time to work on it either. The other day I found oil inside the distributor, so I rebuilt and reinstalled it. During the test drive, on the way home, the engine suddenly jumped up in rpms so I went straight back to the house. When I put the car in park, it was idling at about 3,000. None of the linkages were stuck and I could not get the idle down to normal. Today I decided to pull the carb and I found the bottom right rear throttle plate severely bent. It was not like that when I rebuilt the carb, and I never had the idle problem before either. Anyone have any guess as to how a perfectly fine throttle plate gets so mangled while the carb is installed on the car? I had to remove it from the bottom plate and hammer it flat, so I know these things don't just bend for no reason. I attached a picture of the plate the way I found it.

[Cliff Ruggles]

I can not think of a scenario that would cause that.  The rear plates are thick and difficult to bend anyhow......Cliff

[stushug]

In your book, you recommend bending the rod for the secondary throttle plate stop. What is the simplest way to do that? I tried briefly but I was afraid of damaging the base plate. I though about removing to bend it but it's pressed in very tightly.

[Cliff Ruggles]

I bend them here every day with a pair of pliers.  Not that difficult.....

[stushug]

Thanks, Cliff. I did just as you said and had it adjusted in less than five minutes.

[Cliff Ruggles]

Cool!