If there is no vacume leak, new carb, and timing is close could bad points cause idle problems?? I can get it to either idle to high or not enough. Only thing I can think of is the points are worn out. They are not very old.

Do the ignition tune up before tuning the carb. I don't know what you mean by "timing is close" but if you have an aftermarket cam you will need more timing to achieve good idle. With points, you have to get the dwell right to, because dwell changes timing.

I can get the timing real good by ear usually then go back with the light. It's not acting normal. I replaced the carb today thinking that was the problem. So far I have checked the intake and everything else for vacume leaks with ether, It holds a piece of paper against the breather hole on the valve cover while running so I assume no internal vacume leaks. The gap is set at the thickness of a match book and the dwell is set at 30. I just cannot get it to idle right and it's driving me nuts. Either idles to high or stalls out. No happy medium. Any suggestions? I was going to convert to electronic and see if that is the problem.

I have a dwell meter for setting the points. The engine definitely runs smoother when the dwell is right. Points aren't all that expensive and are easy to change. I've had good luck with the Accel HD points (not the race set). Blue Streak also has a good HD set.

I can get the timing real good by ear usually then go back with the light. It's not acting normal. I replaced the carb today thinking that was the problem. So far I have checked the intake and everything else for vacume leaks with ether, It holds a piece of paper against the breather hole on the valve cover while running so I assume no internal vacume leaks. The gap is set at the thickness of a match book and the dwell is set at 30. I just cannot get it to idle right and it's driving me nuts. Either idles to high or stalls out. No happy medium. Any suggestions? I was going to convert to electronic and see if that is the problem.

See my post. You've changed the carb and verified no vac leaks. Time for timing. Get rid of your ear and a matchbook as timing tools. What is your timing set at, what kind of cam do you have? Why would you buy a new distributor ($$) versus setting your timing (free)?

See my post. You've changed the carb and verified no vac leaks. Time for timing. Get rid of your ear and a matchbook as timing tools. What is your timing set at, what kind of cam do you have? Why would you buy a new distributor ($$) versus setting your timing (free)?

I think it's funny when people say you cannot tune a car without timing lights. We are not racing this thing in NASCAR... I'm not going to get into a pi$$ing contest with you over that subject, lets drop it. The timing is good, the carb is good and there are no vacume leaks. I found that the dist. was sticking so I took another points distributor, stuck a petronics conversion in it and it Seems to be fine now.

I'm glad you've got it working.