Thank you all for the additional info in the last few posts. I think I may have finally beat this hard-start issue! (at least for today). I found that I have an AC Delco car distributor 1112396, so with a 38 to 45 degree dwell range, I'm sticking with the 42 dwell that it is set at currently so I have a little hotter spark. Since I wasn't having luck starting before, I went ahead and reset the timing to zero using my static timing light by adjusting the distributor to make it light up as the ball aligned with the pointer, then readjusted the points to .017. I used the "octane selector" to dial in a few degrees of advance, screwed the mixture screw all the way in (gently) then backed it out 1.5 turns, and was ready to see if it would start.
This time I pulled the choke ALL the way out, and boom, she fired up! I nursed the choke closed until it could idle on it's own and started checking things. Dwell ended up at 42.2, so I called that good and I hooked up the vacuum gage. It was reading just over 20hg so I adjusted the RPM's from 660 down to 510, then started to fiddle with the idle mixture screw. It got just over 21hg so I kept going to see if I could get more vacuum. Once I was sure it was maxed out, I backed it down till it started to run rough, then I brought it back up to maximum 21hg plus 1/8 turn more (per HRL) and checked the revs again to make sure it was at 500.
By now, it was warmed up, so I turned it off, spent a few minutes cleaning up a bit, and tried to start it again. This time I didn't use the choke and it immediately came to life and settled in to a nice idle. I almost took it out for a spin, but my sag wagon (wife and kids) are out, and I want them to follow me because I am still not 100% sure I won't get stranded again.
If this turns out to be a reliable set up, all I need to do next is figure out the carb leak. The floats are adjusted per the adjustment chart that came with the rebuild kit (1 9/32"), plus another 1/32" to compensate for the 10% ethanol (read that in a post from carbking). I haven't figured out how to check fuel pressure given that I have a hard steel line going to the carb, so I haven't ruled out too much pressure even though it is the old glass top pump. The float needle is clean and the needle's red o-ring gasket is seated properly. I blew into the fuel inlet and held the needle seated (gently) and it seemed to hold when I blew into it. When I looked at the exploded view of the roch-B, and noticed that there may be about 5 parts that I am missing between the air horn and the fuel inlet brass fitting (can't tell if that is B specific or if it is BC or BV specific). Right now, my fuel line goes into the brass inlet and that is screwed directly into the carb with no thread tape. See attached image for the parts that I definitely don't have on my carb (#'s 45 through 49). Anyone know if I need these or at least part #46?
