Crazy solution to the kickdown problem......I got the carb back from the rebuilder today, so after dinner my wife puts on the British Baking Show, and I gotta smell some gas, so out to the "compound" I went.
It turns out that that the accelerator cable was somehow twisted, and was sitting right under the kickdown linkage. As I was re-fitting the carb, something just didn't seem right, and then I realized the accelerator cable was interfering with the kickdown linkage (and probably vice-versa, thus affecting acceleration). The accelerator cable sheathing was actually worn from the kickdown linkage rubbing on it. HWYCRZR's photos in his last post verified the correct arrangement. I was able to move the accelerator cable to a better position, which was out of the kickdown's path, so now I think all is well. A road test tomorrow will see if the fix worked, but all seems to operate well, and the engine runs really great.
The choke was mal-adjusted as well, especially for Florida. Way too rich. The butterfly would snap shut tighter than Chris Christie's belt after a buffet dinner! I loosened the choke up a bit, and the car "cold" started perfectly. (There's no such thing as a cold start here in Tampa). One thing I've learned in the last 40 years of working on these old cars is this: keep studying the problem, keep looking at it, keep trying different solutions, and most importantly...ask guys who are smarter than me how to fix something!
Cheers from Tampa and thanks as always for everyone's help.
