g'day all

chazza, the mixture needle is new and i have been carefull to not overtighten. i pulled it out and checked it and it seems fine.

lewy, I set the floats to the lowest level from the holden manual 11/16ths=17.4mm...opposed to 5/8ths=15.8mm

Rangy01, sorry i am not sure will pull the top off the carby and look tomorrow.

I still can't understand how the thing can run with the needle wound in all the way?? let alone so well(but rich)?? the only thing i can think of is that when the needle is wound right in, the passage (jet) is not fully blocked (it didn't appear that way when i installed it) or that the power valve may be at fault...but if it were running entirely off the power valve wouldn't it run very very poorly.

any more clues, really appreciate the help

It seems no car shop in Hobart stocks stromberg mains any more. all i wont is a 0.050 main....old cars geezz