Posted this to Tom Langdon just now. I will also post the reply, if I get one.
"I received the Holley-Weber kit a few days ago, but didn't really start to try to put it together until two days ago.
I'm not happy.
The first part I tied to put together was the air cleaner mounting adapter. I immediately noticed that the supplied bolt is at least 1/4 inch too long. So I took a look at the rest of the kit.
1. You told me that there was no way to hook up a manual choke so I needed the electric choke. That is just not true.
2. You recommended a new carburetor instead of a rebuilt one. The carburetor I received is obviously new, but has significant corrosion issues.
3. The carburetor base gasket is unusable.
4. The adapter between the carburetor and the manifold will need considerable cleanup before it will seal. The casting inside is also porous and I'll have to figure out some way to deal with that.
5. The linkage is a mishmash of parts, with no instructions, and could easily be replaced with one bell crank.
6. The fasteners are all wrong. Heim joints without jam nuts? Never seen that before. Some of the comments I've heard say use a lot of Loc-Tite. Shouldn't be necessary. Nuts with captive star washers against aluminum? No way.
I bought this setup after reading a lot of positive comments on Stovebolt Forum. After I mentioned some of my concerns there I found that others have had similar issues, but not mentioned them. The carburetor is a great idea, but I am not happy with the accessories, and there was no way to find out without buying one."
