Need quadrajet help and suggestions

[pnut]

SBC, rebuilt .030 over. Mild cam upgrade (Lunati Voodoo #2), Edelbrock dual plane intake. Holley aluminum high flow heads w/ rollers, High output HEI. Timing at 13 degrees.

I found a local guy who rebuilds Qjets and apparently knows how to dial them in. He rebuilt a junkyard Qjet I supplied. We tried to run it, and got it ok, but the throttle shafts were wobbly, so he rebuilt again. But the base plate was too far gone, so he used an old one, and had to "create a few holes, etc".

I tried to run the engine and dial in the carb last night with no good luck. Ran WAAAAY rich (my throat was burning). One of the idle mixture screws is loose-ish. I can wobble it pretty good. Also there is a small wetness constantly around the top plate at the front (same as before). When I turned in the idle mixture screws to tune using vac gauge, I could turn them closed and still I was too rich (after warmup). I gave up in frustration.

I am considering just ditching this carb and starting over with a good rebuilt one from someplace like Jet performance. I am already almost $180 in to this carb, and 2 months behind. I need to get this running well in 3 weeks tops, and running well. Holley or FI are not options right now.

I'm open to suggestions. I'm willing to cut my losses and run. I need this to be a reliable, well running vehicle (Jeep).


Edit: I just noticed that the choke vacuum hookup is wrong (like he did it wrong before). I will fix that and re-try, but could this be part of what's causing the problem? Thanks