I dunno, but if you make a new board in the "Other" forum, you'll get more hits from people that do...

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I've been calling it as i see it for my entire life and that's not about to change. Take it or leave it.

You said something about leaning out the mixture because the exhaust smelled like gas. More often than not, if your eyes are watering because of the fumes, you're smelling unburned gas because of lean misfire. The ignition system may be subpar, and the mixture is already too lean to ignite consistently. If that is the case, you may have leaned it out so much it will not support combustion.
The other suggestions are good too. It is very common to mess up the timing and/or firing order on a slant six. Check the search threads button there has to be a lot of info on that particular subject.

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'66 Cuda 225/4spd
'66 Dart GT convertible 225/auto
'64 Dart GT 340/4spd

Good news, I got it started today. I tried what you suggested Steponme, everything lined up fine, some of the valves were still too loose, adjusted those, put everything back together (cap, wires, plugs), turned it over, no dice. After uttering a few choice 4-letter words, I turned both of the screws at the base of the all the way back into the carb, still no dice. Then turned both of them back out about 1/4 to 1/2, nothing.... so, I started fiddling with the choke valve, closed it all the way... turned it over, a couple burps then it starts up fine... but it sounded like it was going to red line, so I quickly turned it off. Adjusted the choke valve again, rpms didn't jump so high, but I think it sounded like about 2500 to 3000.
Good news is... no backfiring of any sort, and its more quiet now than it was before I took the head off. Definatly sweet!
Which Idle screw do I want to adjust to get the rpms down at start up? Fast Idle? or Curb Idle? I do need to recharge the vacuum lines, but that will have to wait.
Hot adjustment of the valves will have to wait till this weekend, coz I ran out of daylight, and I wasn't 100% certain that I had enough coolant in it, and don't want to chances.

Well, sorry that all the work I suggested didnt turn up anything, but for you thats a good thing.

Are you sure your throttle plates are closing completely? If your engine is revving that high and the plates are closed, I dunno, you must have a massive vacuum leak somewhere and it happens to run when the mixture is insanely rich. I'm still hung over from last night so I'll let someone sharper field this one. Maybe your manifolds arent sealing properly?

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I've been calling it as i see it for my entire life and that's not about to change. Take it or leave it.

Well, before I took the manifold and head off, when I would drive it, when its moving everything is fine as with pulling up to a stop... but if I'd take a ride on the interstate for about 20mins, it would still run fine while moving, but when I'd come to a complete stop, it would Idle very rough maybe a hair above stalling.
When you say Vacuum leak? do you mean the vaccum lines? or what draws the mixture into and the exhaust out of the engine?
The exhaust manifold needs to be replaced, coz the flange studs are worn out. also the studs that hold together the exhaust to the intake manifold were broken at some point by the previous owner... I don't think they replaced them with heat-resistant bolts. Would that be enough to cause the two to separate?
The spark advance diaphram on the distributor has never been charged, as well as another diaphram on the exhaust manifold since i've owned it.
BTW, Steponme, I did appreciate the advice it did help me eliminate the timing issue, thankfully it wasn't.
Something tells me this problem lies in the carb spacer. One of the corners of it is dented pretty bad. Or is this a total SNAFU?

So many issues going on here. By vacuum leak I meant air is getting into your engine through means other than the air filter. It could be sucking air through your vacuum advance diaphragm, your carb dashpot, the dented carb spacer you mentioned, or the gasket between the manifolds and head, or a crack in the intake manifold, any of a number of places. Basically treat anything between the carb and head as a vacuum cleaner and make sure it's all sealed up. I'd toss the carb too and throw a rebuilt one from a 318 on there for good measure.

What's this diaphragm on your exhaust? You don't have EGR, do you?

Maybe you should take it to a reputable mechanic and see what they find.

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I've been calling it as i see it for my entire life and that's not about to change. Take it or leave it.

Yeah, thats what I meant, the EGR valve. What model number should I look for in a two barrel unit? I found the Holley model 2280 in my chiltons book, but that has a "throttle transducer" or something like that which mine doesn't have. Otherwise its a carbon copy. Someone mentioned earlier about a Carter 2Bbl as being slighly better unit. Or should I just do some research and find out what the Dart Sport had?
I read someplace that the supersix manifolds had trouble with cracking along the cast weld, but that was with the aluminum units, I think mine is cast iron.
For the time being, I don't care if it runs rich, coz I have a full tank of 9month old gas, I need to get rid of it.
Another thing could the blowback in the exhaust manifold, say if it was stuck in the "recycle" position, to help the engine heat up faster?

ugh...

Yeah you want to look for the Carter BBS unit, the Holley 2280 is junk IMO. and no you dont want your engine running rich for any amount of time. Its hard on the engine. Id say gather all the couches and water heaters on your front porch ( ) and pour your 9 month old gas on that, and have a nice bonfire. Maybe run-through a pint of new gas or so and slosh it around to rinse the water and varnish out.

I dunno about this "recycle" b/s but it kinda sounds like your heat riser valve is stuck. Now Mopar sold heat riser dislodging spray, ask the Doc what it was actually called, but theyve since dropped that moniker and call it penetrating oil now. The part number Doc gives in his article is the same, and it worked great for me so I think the formulation's the same. Take a couple hours and free the valve up with that spray stuff. Take a small hammer with you to tap on the shaft. You wont regret it.

Thats the answer to your new questions as best I know, i dunno at this point if i should be steering you in a whole nother direction but this post is making my mind numb lol. I hope you get this sorted out alright.

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I've been calling it as i see it for my entire life and that's not about to change. Take it or leave it.

Yeah, this whole thing is giving me a headache too, I'll have to go find an old couch on the side of the road or something, wick/siphon the gas out of the tank onto the couch..... rob some pallets from the back of "Try n' Save"..... I already got the keg.... you got a match? The couch will burn well, put octane booster in the tank by mistake, instead of dry gas. (Silly additives.. those tricks are for kids)