TrunkMatt

excellent, thanks...

Gotchya... I do indeed set the choke when starting - but had no idea this is where the magic happens. I'll wait for the wife to get motivated enough to throw on some outdoor clothes and convince her to help the investigation by sitting in the drivers seat. I suppose I could call her out here in her sleeping gear, but the neighbors are already looking at the car without the extra help. You mentioned alignment / misaligned. Is there a good resource to tell if everything is aligned right here?

Feeling a bit like a newb (well, I am...) Anyhow, here are Pics of what I have (quadrajet on edlebrock manifold): http://gallery.me.com/matthew.hilla#100049 Thanks in advance for helping me learn.

OOPS!!!!- Disregaurd the Edlebrock carb comment... it is actually the standard numbers matched Quadrajet carb, vacuum powered etc... but mounted to Edlebrock Manifold. I assumed it was an edlebrock carb under the filter since it had an edlebrock Manifold... until looking close enough. I am actually quite happy to see this as my car has more numbers matched parts than first thought. Honestly I just got the thing. Anyhow I'll take a few pictures now that I have the filter off.

EDIT - Originally thought I had Edlebrock... on closer look it is not. Don't ask how I made that mistake... lets just say I am not a mechanic. Hey guys - I have a question on Cold-idle / high idle My nifty new monty seems to not want to go into high-idle on first cold start... seems to be set at 550rpm or so. As a result I have to rest my foot on the pedal to keep it from stalling until she heats up... probably about the first 10 minutes. It can be annoying as it means I need to shift into neutral at a stoplight, and keep the rpm at 850 by foot or risk it stalling, good ole 2 footing etc.... also seems to smell a bit rich until it heats up. If it does stall when cold, it is then a bear to start (first start is fine... stall-out start = complete pain). So to me it means an obvious sign of too much fuel at cold idle, partially flooding. If I make it through the cold cycle, no issues whatsoever. After heating up, all is well... and it actually idles fine, doesn't smell rich. Once it heats up it can idle at its own about 700 rpm with no issues. So, the question is: 1) Is this a choke thing or a float thing, or a high idle speed setting thing? I am not a person who has had the life experience of fiddling with carbs enough to want to take a crack at it without someone experienced thinking it through for me first :-) My only personal reference is my other old car, a 72 Ford Torino with a Windsor 302... and it is VERY DIFFERENT layout than what I am staring at when looking at the Monte.