Gentlemen

It's been a while since I posted but I just wanted to follow up on this situation. I haven't driven the car much since the first posting and subsequent replies but wanted to let all know where I am today on this. First, thanks for the help.

The car idle like a pig with low vacuum, somewhere around 10-12 hg. The engine bounces around like it wants to jump out of the car until it warms up. Still a really bad fuel
Smell.

So i grew a pair and took the carbs off to check settings and power valve and jets etc. I went through the the guidance by Tom quad from the a12 lift Off Registry website.

When the carbs were redone before Putting them on the motor, the carb guy said they were setup and ready to go. Well, he doesn't know what he is doing!

Outboard carbs were each set 3 turns out so I backed them down to 1/8 CCw. The center carb had #68 jets so I put in #64 just so I could baseline. I checked the power valve and it
Seemed there was fuel in the space behind it so that made me think it may be bad. I replaced it with a 4.5 which is lower than 6.5 but remember my vacuum hg was low so
I wanted to be sure. I can always go back and put a higher Pv in. I did
Not check of verify float levels yet. Also my fuel pump is the Carter street fuel pump Which the a12 site recommends.

Well, results? After snugging everything up nice and firm and starting the engine......I had a dramatic improvement, which I was hoping for.

The engine woke up and started right away with a very smooth idle and a steady vacuum of about 20 hg. Also I forgot to mention I set the center carb idle mixture to 1.5 ccw. The idle rpm was 1500 but i expect it to be higher which I can adjust that down with a further
Timing and vacuum tuning.

I couldn't check the fuel float levels since the idle was so poor so that's my next job and then I will further tune to get max vacuum at an idle of around 900-1100 Rpm in gear.

Voila, I know have control over the idle circuit on the center.carb. and no more fuel smell. I will also be replacing the spark plugs and the engine oill before I Try to further tune
For timing, vacuum and idle. I'm sure the plugs are Fouled beyond belief.

The lesson of this story......pull the carbs and verify everything to the 6 pack carb checklist and don't take anything that your carb rebuilder tells you as accurate. The only way to figure these things Out Is To Understand them and learn from these threads where people that have these carbs can share info.

I do believe the power valve was faulty but I will check it it on a mighty Vac gauge.

The moral of this story..... a rich condition at idle and no control over main carb idle
Circuit, check out board carbs to ensure 1/8 ccw and check that pv is working, 6.5 is appropriate for most engines with Hg of 12 or greater. Also, make sure everything is
Nice and snug but don't gorilla tighten. I turn everything till it stops under normal exertion. If I have to grit my teeth or out my body weight on it, then I'm Over tightening.

If overich condition persists after correct carb set up then verify fuel pressure is
Not Too much and float levels are adjusted correctly. For my situation, an accurate carb setup remedied my rich condition so I'm assuming my fuel pressure is fine and floats just need verification. I do have a slight bog under firm acceleration but I believe that's my 4.5 pv and I will be going back to a new 6.5 pv once I have everything dialed in for good.

By the way. As i was removing the carbs I noticed some less than tight fasteners so
I imagine i had some Vacuum leaks too

Now, I have an entirely different car that doesn't disperse crowds like a tear gas canister. It idles well and I have control over the idle circuit..

Thanks All.