Yes I have the outboards done, the front was about 1.25 turns out on the base screws and the rears are closed right off. This was done covering the outer idle bleeds and adjusting until the idle speed did not vary. I’m a little surprised the fronts wanted that much while the rears wanted nothing.
These are the new replacement Holley carbs where the idle screws are in the base. Not real impressed by the quality control on them....
I certainly see why guys buy the metering blocks to upgrade the outboards carbs adjustability.
Sounds like you got quite a mess going on, I know you won't like it, but I'd start by pulling the intake and looking for a cracked runner IMHO, new Edelbrock 6 pack manifolds like to crack around cylinders 6, 7, and 8... but a crack could be anywhere, plus the Edelbrock BB sixpack manifolds are notorious for gasket sealing issues, what gaskets are you running?, plus a dry fit of the manifold is in order to check if it's mating with the heads/intake ports squarely
