383 Wont Idle with new to me 800cfm DP. Idles and runs ok with Edelbrock/AFB
This is the carb number I took the picture the other day while I was going through it. The price of the carb, if I decide to keep it is $100.
View attachment 1715331904
IIRC, that carb was made on the 41st day of 1998.
One more suggestion...Id spend the money for Superformance gaskets for that carb. They not only seal better, they last longer and can be reused many times.
100 bucks for that ain't bad. Mill the choke horn off (you can do it at home with a hacksaw and a file if you are careful) and it will help with airflow across the boosters. Especially when you run an air cleaner.
Then do the simple stuff. Make sure the main body is flat. They never are. Carefully draw file it until it's flat. Make damn sure you can put the metering block on the main body with the power valve installed and no gasket on the main body and make sure the power valve doesn't hit the boss in the power valve well. Seen it dozens of times and it will let fuel leak into the engine. You won't have an external leak either. And then the power valve gets blamed.
Make sure all the emulsion holes are open, and the air bleeds. Blow them out with compressed air. It doesn't take much to plug or partially plug an .028 hole.
Also, check the size of the idle feed restriction. It's probably too damn big. You can either buy brass from someone like BLP or pull the brass out that Holley used and carefully drill and tap the metering block for a brass set screw and make your own restricters. You may need to open up the idle air bleed a bit as well. .004 bigger is a good start. After that .002 is the next move.
That's all simple stuff you can do that is cheap and easy.
