I sprayed soapy water around the intake runners and the sides of the Carter BBD a couple weeks ago. Pumped the carb with air and found out I had a nice sized leak on the throttle shaft on the drivers side and a couple smaller leaks on 3 of the 4 stud bolts holding the carb down. So I took it into the shop and told them to rebush it. Well they found a few more problems like a loose distributor shaft and they also adjusted my valves. Anyway, I got the car back and the vacuum guage reads at about 18 but the car still won't idle right (guage read 14-15 before the shop). I had the mixture screws turned out 5 turns before the shop. After the shop and after they "fixed" the vacuum leaks, the screws are still turned out 4 1/2 on the left and 5 1/2 on the right. The car sounds ok but I get a lot of run on sometimes when I shut the car off. The timing is at about 6* BTDC. It also has a noticeable hesitation when its cold out. I have to almost vibrate my foot on the throttle sometimes to get it from dying out when I get on the gas.

Anyway, I decided to do the soapy water test again today and it's still bubbling, although not quite as bad as before, on the throttle shaft on the drivers side. I was wondering if it's even possible to totally stop air from leaking in there? I don't want to take it back in and tell them to fix it for free if its something that can never be fixed. I don't know whats normal or not for these carbs. Should I see no bubbles whatsoever when I run this test? I just can't seem to find another reason why I have to have the mixture screws turned out so much. It just won't run at all with them turned in at 2 or 2 1/2 turns. What do you guys think?

Sounds like either there's another vacuum leak you haven't detected yet — or possibly an exhaust leak through the floor of the intake manifold — or the carb itself has other problems that have not yet been sorted out (or the carb has not yet been replaced with a non-problematic one).

What is the history of this carb?

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

I bought this carb off of ebay. Says it was a Canada carb. Its remanufactured and came in one of those Holley II boxes. I paid a carb shop to rebush the throttle shaft and rebuild it. Well apparently they didn't fix the drivers side of it very well because I had to pay another shop to rebush that and it's still not all the way sealed up. It's never ran right from the moment I got it. It also has an annoying high pitched almost rattling sound that comes from the throat of the carb. I can't figure out what it is.

Mm. Never had much luck with "remans", and while Holley II was one of the less-awful brands, I've seen junk come in Holley II boxes, too.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

I know you can't tell exactly whats wrong with it, but do you think its possible that this could be fixed with a rebuld kit or is it one of those deals where theres no helping it since its remanufactured?

Could be as simple as an improperly-selected or -installed gasket or seal creating a vacuum leak within the carb. It wouldn't cost much to try out a good-quality kit and see if that clears things up. You may want to read through the BBD manual I compiled and posted, see here. Take especial note of the manual altitude compensation selector some of these carbs have. If you're near sea level, and the compensator is in "high altitude" position, the carb would run lean at idle.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.