499 stroker with a Holley 850 carb. I read the newer 850's were really 750's with an 850 TP. I've tried 750's on my 440 and they all seemed hard to tune,to rich at idle to lean at wot. very hard to get everything right. I put a pro form 950 body on an old 850 dp that uses the 850/950 tp and my combo has never ran better and every adjustment has been easy and responsive.
It just sounds like to me your carb is to small for your combo. you need more cfm IMO.
The OP may well need more CFM for maximum performance @ WOT, but he is trying to get his cruise happy. And there is no reason he cannot do that with an 850. The double pumpers are track oriented carbs which are very rich for street cars which is why the OP is being forced to change the tune so much.
But they can be tuned to give satisfactory street manners, just like a Dominator can.
And yes there would have been carbs that would be closer to what he needed right out of the box, but this is what he has and it can be made to work.
IF he wants to put the effort into it.
