17085213 won't start after rebuild

[f18delta]

ust tore down the quadrajet for the second time in as many days. Still not getting any gas to the float. Here's what I've done so far:

Tore it down, replaced all the gaskets, replaced the fuel filter, replaced the needle, seat & gasket assembly, then put it all back together.

I'm getting gas to the fuel filter, but the bowl doesn't seem to want to fill up. I'm wondering if I didn't put the needle, seat & gasket assembly back together right. I have it to where the back of the float is resting on top of the assembly. There's a small piece of wire that is acting like a spring that sits under the float and on top of the needle. I can provide pictures of the part if anyone is curious.

If I'm looking at everything correctly, that would be the first line of stoppage for the gas to get to the float. Do I have it installed wrong, or am I looking in the wrong place?

[f18delta]

Got it running again. Looks like my issue was the needle seat not being attached to the float. When I took it apart the first time, I must have jostled it loose. So I kinda killed myself on that one. Figured that's what it had to be. Now I get to work on the idling too high tomorrow.

Oh, and backfires tend to wake up the neighborhood and scare the bejezzus outta the wife. It only took me an hour before the ringing stopped in my ears 

[f18delta]

OK, I'm stuck. I can't get the RPM's to drop even after the engine temp is up to operating temp. Here's how I have it set up now. I was concerned that the green bar in front of the red arrow in the picture was in the wrong place. Anyone know if this is correct or not?

[f18delta]

Got it working again. The issue seemed to be related to the Y tab being bound up. Need to adjust the idle, but it is running 100% better now.

[f18delta]

I'm starting to feel a little bipolar here, but I'm not sure what's happening now.

The weather here has been 60 degrees one day, and in the 30's the next. I'm not sure if this is causing my issue or not:

This happened again this morning, so I figured I'd ask for an expert's opinion. After the truck warmed up, it idled down, so I put it in gear and back out of the driveway. After backing out, I put it in gear and it nearly died. I was getting backfires and smelling gas being dumped through, so I pulled it back into the driveway and shut it off. I went in to get a couple of tools in case it was going to try and leave me on the side of the road today. Came back out of the house and got back in to start it up, and it idled fine all the way to work.

I've had this happen a couple of times now since the rebuild. I did't open the choke thermostat when I rebuilt the carb to begin with, so I don't know if it's bad or not. But I'm looking for suggestions as to if this is the problem or if it may be the choke pull off. I did test the pull off when I had it off by pushing it in and capping the tube with my finger. It didn't lose pressure, so I'm thinking that it's still good.

Am I on the right path here?

[Shark Racer]

When the ambient temperature is cooler, you need to have the choke on longer, so if you're trying a 30° day vs a 60° day it makes sense that the car would be a little cold blooded on the 30° day.

[f18delta]

True, but once the choke disengages, the carb shouldn't run rich, correct? This is why I'm thinking that the choke thermostat is the issue.

[Shark Racer]

Without the pull-off the car will run extremely poorly on first start.

The choke increases richness of the carburetor from wherever it's at.

Have you checked for nozzle drip? Nozzle drip is a vile mistress; the car will run a little bad and then get horribly bad as the liquid fuel puddles up.

What kind of choke are you running? Electric or hot air? If it's electric, you can simply charge the wire, put the car in "run", and watch the choke engage. If it's hot air, you may have to heat the choke with a hair dryer. (this would work with electric too). That will verify the thermostat.

[f18delta]

The choke is electric. I'll jump a wire from the battery over to the choke tonight to see if it's operating or not.