Reply to "Weber carbs - owners speak out"

When you set the carb up on the bench, not on the car, you set the carb throttle plate on the transition slot. It really won't close anymore anyway.
You put them together and then sync the carbs running.
When you get any slack out of the linkage I find that on pump gas they want to idle in the 950 to 1000 rpm area.
People like Inglese will tell you to set the idle screws at 3/4 turn. I find that makes them load up just a little at idle. I try to get them as close to 1/2 turn as I can. They usually, for me wind up at about 5/8 turn. I'm sure that there are production tolerences on all of the IDA's. You will notice that the Unisync can show you two different vacuums on the same carb. You use the throat closest to the "mating linkage".
I run a vacuum advance on the distributor.
This all puts me at 1100 with vacuum idle.
Since all the linkage is "zeroed-in" I turn the distributor down a little to bring the idle rpm down.
I'm not saying that this is the only combination but it works for me with good tip in, reasonable idle, and good top end.
I personally think that the idle jet it "needs" is in between a 65 and a 70.
If you are running high compression, over 10.5:1, if you put in a tank of leaded racing gas, it will idle down a lot.
This is the entire issue with Webers of being "too variable". Everything effects them. In this sense you must consider them a "racing set-up" and be the Chief Mechanic and determine that today, this is the best they are going to run and leave it at that.
I used to have a picture of Jim Inglese hanging on the garage wall. Beneath that picture was a pile of fouled spark plugs. As I would pull the plugs out of the engine I would throw them at the picture and let them pile up. It was better then just drawing Devils horns, and blacking out his teeth, etc.
This was my form of Weber therapy. Now I have some kava-kava, but sometimes I throw darts at the target.