Thanks Ted for the help. I have dug out my Holley book and am reading thru that. You have nailed most tips they speak of.
I have at least 9-10 inches idle vacuum on my gauge.
My power valve is 6.5 OEM on the Holley 850 mech sec.
I only just last night cracked a fuel bowl sight plug screw and witnessed gas bleeding off the cracked screw. This was with the car sitting and not even running. I assume that had I taken the screw right off the gas would have dribbled out considerably.
The adjustment for the float levels seems a tad confusing. One book describes the screw as the adjustment with the 5/8 nut being the locker. Another book said the opposite, that the nut is the adjuster and the center screw a locker???
I haven't made the attempt to lower the float level yet until I have this nailed down. Obviously the high level in the fuel bowel will contibute to richness or flooding.
I do know i want to take the adjustment clockwise to lower the float. It's deceiving to look at too, because the screw and the nut almost look bottomed now?? This carb is brand new & out of the box.
http://www.shockley.net/holley-jets.asp
I think this guy describes the adjustment of the level correctly.
Another piece i found useful is this tip
"Idle Circuit
The idle circuit controls idle and off idle fuel delivery. It is not commonly understood, but the idle circuit can affect the fuel ratio at cruising speeds as high at 50 mph or even more. The idle circuit needs high vacuum to operate, so if vacuum is high enough at cruising speeds, the idle circuit is flowing fuel. I have found that an off idle hesitation that is not a result of an accelerator pump usually is a poorly tuned idle circuit. The number 1 cause is when radical cams force the tuner to open the throttle blades too much and they uncover too much of the transfer slots. When this happens, there is insufficient transition fuel to cover the gap before the main system is activated. More pump shot or richer main jets cam cover this problem, but it also wastes fuel and could hurt power. The better solution is to
open the secondary plates some, which will allow the primaries to be closed and cover more of the transfer slots. In extreme cases, as with radical cams, you can drill two 1/16 holes in the primary throttle plates to let more air in rather than open the throttle plates."
http://www.grapeaperacing.com/GrapeA.../carbterms.cfm
The adjuster screw stop is darn had to get at when the carb is on or in a turkey pan..........lol
http://66.96.130.106/archives/1999/1...y/index2.shtml
Tim