Holley 4160 questions/tune...please help

[cas69aus19]

Its a holley 4160 600cfm vac secondaries, electric choke. Its sitting on a bored 302.
I just put a refresh kit in it. So i know everything is clean and in working order. I have searched this topic, but nothing has helped me with my problem.

Here is what happened, when pulling it apart, the spring for the choke came off of the perch. I was not able to remember which direction it was supposed to go. I have looked for a diagram and can't find one.

I can get it to idle decently. But to idle decent it runs extremely rich. Burn your eyes, mouth, and make you smell like ****.

It backfires like a mo'fo' as well. I have read that a backfire can destroy a power valve. I checked it and it is still good.

I also took and seated the idle mixture screws, and then backed them out 1 and 1/2 turn. Still no change.

I don't have access to a vacuum gauge either. I am in the process of finding one. The compliments of living in a small town(2500). So i don't know exactly what kind of vacuum i am pulling.

1. Which way is the choke spring supposed to sit on the perch.?.
2. What do i need to adjust to stop it from backfiring.?.
3. What do i need to adjust to lean the carb out.?.

I think i covered just about everything. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[D.Hearne]

Take what's left of the choke and bury it in the backyard. Me? I remove every part of it. Takes a few minutes of "babying" it to idle on cold mornings, but I prefer that to sticking chokes. What's your timing set at ?. If it's retarded too much your probably having to adjust the idle speed screw too far down and thus are letting the throttle blades uncover the idle tranfer slot. This will cause the problem with the inoperative idle mixture screws. Retarded timing would also explain the backfiring.

 

[thehueypilot]

Did the carb. run right before you put in the rebuild kit? Did you replace the base gasket? If you did was it a direct match between the old and new gasket?

 

[66StangFastback]

Timing would cause the backfiring. You don't particularly need a vacuum guage, though they are nice. Just lean out the screws completely (it should run like ****) then richen it back up till the engine runs its best. You'll be able to tell. Sound like you need to swap out the jets as well, to lean it out a bit.