'73 resto' project - TQ carb question

["J. Stacey" <jstacey@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

All,

For those who don't care about the background to my request, I've put that
part at the end of this note.

I am doing a shade-tree, ground-up restoration of a '73 4drht.  I've now got
to the point where the completely overhauled 440 was first started up this
weekend (Friday).

I also put a kit in the Carter ThermoQuad carburetor myself.  The engine
finally started after several failed attempts, (too embarassing to say what
things were preventing it from starting at first!).  All in all, everything
is quite satisfactory, and it is a real pleasure to hear her run after all
these years, but there is still one small problem....

The engine continues to run at about 800 - 900 rpm even with the primary
throttle plates COMPLETELY closed and the idel mixture screws turned
COMPLETEY in against the stops!!!  I am wondering if this could be caused by
the float level being too high?  I have conflicting specs between the
instructions that came with the carb kit and the FSM.  I went by the kit
instructions and set the float level at 1.0 inch (height of the bottom of
the float above the inverted bowl cover w/gasket).  After I had the thing
assembled, I noticed the FSM says 1 1/16 inch, which would be a LOWER level
of gas in the bowl.

Are there any TQ experts out there that could comment on this?  I don't
really want to take the carb apart again, but obviously I will if I have to.

Thanks,

Jim Stacey
'73 4drht slowly going back together
Near Toronto


BRIEF BACKGROUND

I started this in the early '80's at which time I gutted the interior
(except dash), removed all the front-end sheetmetal, etc. and stored all the
parts in the attic of my garage. What was left of the car in tact - body,
doors, glass, subframe, engine & tranny - was stored in various friends
garages, delapidated sheds, etc, over the years until the fall of 2001 when
the old girl finally had to come home at which point I could not ignore her
any longer.

I had the engine (which turned out to be a '68 high performance 440) totally
rebuilt professionally with special cam and pistons.  I removed and totlaly
disassembled the stub frame, front suspension & brakes, steering, rear
springs, axle and brakes and sandblasted and painted all these components.
I removed all the dash, wiring harness, heater & A/C, steering column,
parking brake, etc., from the interior - all that is left is the headliner
at this point.

I have re-painted all inside the cowl and air plenums, the firewall, and the
floor (inside & outside with undercoating on the outside as well), back to
about the rear of the transmission. (Only went that far back for now to
accomodate installation of the engine & tranny).

I now have the stub frame, front suspension, rad yoke, radiator, engine,
tranny and first part of exhaust back together - all that is required to
start the engine.

I picked up some used rear quarter panels, and a bunch of other parts from
Kerry P. in Feb '02.  My son is good a MIG welding, so after I finish
painting and undercoating the underneath side of the floor pan and trunk, I
will start on putting in the new quarter panels. After that I'm going to
study Kerry's latest 300 painting saga and start on the body work and
priming.  Don't think I'll ever have the nerve to try  painting the car
myself.

I think MAYBE by the end of next summer I might just have her driveable.  My
goal is to take her to Carlisle in July '05.

Thanks for taking the time to read my story.