bought a brand new hooley 4779-9 carb for my 70 SS 402. has about 500 miles on it and started to do some adjusments, put vacuum gage on and got about 11 psi vacuum, then all of a sudden damn thing wouldnt start, does anyone have any suggestions???

My suggestion would be to put a Q-jet, Carter, or an Edelbrock carb on it :D . I'm not to fond of trying to run Holleys on the street, don't like the power valve, idle circuit, or the float system.

As to your problem it is probably a flooding issue, float level adjustment would be my shot in the dark advise. If you have an Electric fuel pump it is easy to check float level, turn the pump on with the float sight plug out. You should only get a small (and I mean very small) trickle of fuel out of the hole. If your car is a mechanical pump, crank the car over for at least 30 sec without pumping the accelerator pedal, then look down the throat of the carb and see if gas is running into the engine. By the way you did put a new fuel filter on with the carb?