Hi Mark:

I've had to do the "hole in the throttle plate" thing on almost every 440 with a Holley 750 I've ever had my hands on. And always as a last resort, after making sure everything else is OK, mainly timing.

Having said that, I will say that in many of those cases, the problem could have been fixed by opening the secondary plates a little more. I realize I'm in the minority here, but I prefer drilling the holes in the plates over opening the secondary throttle stop because the latter, especially on larger-inch engines, causes a rich condition at high vacuum because the high vacuum pulls additional fuel through the secondary transfer slot. I know that most people prefer NOT taking a drill to their carb when there's an alternative, and I can certainly understand and respect that.

I guess there's lots of ways to skin a cat!

Jim