yes



"Came too close to dying to stop living now!"

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If you will read my answer again please note that idle speed adjustment settings are SUPPOSED to be controlled by the secondary butterflies, not the primary.  You will never get a holley to idle correctly with the secondaries closed and the primaries opened like you state.  The whole object of setting up a holley starts with the secondary throttle blade adjustment showing ~.020" of the slot under the secondary butterflies.  .020" will be nearly square, hence the ease of eyeballing by just getting the slot to look square. 



JDC

Thanks for the illustration. After looking at it I went outside and pulled my carb off, turned it upside down, set the manual choke wide open, backed off the fast idle screw and observed that the primary idle slots were square shaped with the idle screw against the stop. Question: I then examined the secondary butterflies and could not even see the tops of the slots. I did press down gently on the secondary butterflies and felt a little slack and could barely see the tops of the slots when i pushed down. I did also notice the tiny recessed flat head screw that is the adjustor. Know, while I have the carb upside down , do I need to adjust the secondary butterflies to reveal a small square in the slots to match what I did to the primaries?  Hope this makes sense.

Thanks for the illustration. After looking at it I went outside and pulled my carb off, turned it upside down, set the manual choke wide open, backed off the fast idle screw and observed that the primary idle slots were square shaped with the idle screw against the stop. Question: I then examined the secondary butterflies and could not even see the tops of the slots. I did press down gently on the secondary butterflies and felt a little slack and could barely see the tops of the slots when i pushed down. I did also notice the tiny recessed flat head screw that is the adjustor. Know, while I have the carb upside down , do I need to adjust the secondary butterflies to reveal a small square in the slots to match what I did to the primaries?  Hope this makes sense.

I can't believe Holley would try to dissuade you from using the secondary stop screw - their rep showed me the trick in '69....... Beats the alternative - drilling holes in the primary blades!!!!!!!!!! That's a Holley bulletin picture I posted above. 

 
 Steve Metzger       Tucson, Arizona

Thanks Joe. Please keep in mind that I'm just a parts changer and an Autolite 2100 is what I'm used to. I think the mistake I made on the Holley was that I focused only on the primary (front bores ) when I tried to adjust the slot and paid no attention to the secondary . From what I have heard and read, Holly strongly advises not to mess with the setting underneath for the secondary throttle. I only want a smooth idling stock running 292 . I'm going to remove the carb and loosed all 8 shaft screws and try to reseat all 4 blade as you said, then with the throttle held closed, I'll check the slot. Hopefully, I can do this without splitting the baseplate from the main body. Do you the default setting for the fast idle cam screw? manual choke

If you have a "spare" carb to examine (I have several junkers laying around myself) - the two secondary bores have a hole in them that functions as a fixed orifice "fuel leak". When you open the rear blades - it adds some air to go with that fuel. That "leak" keeps replenishing fresh fuel into the secondary bowl if nothing else.

The plan is to put the idle in balance - using small tweaks of the mixture screws - and setting the hot idle speed with the secondary blades. You do this while leaving the primary at the "sweet spot" on the transfer slot.

Doing these initial (and final) tune tweaks requires that you have the engine warm - and the ignition timing on its marks. Having an engine set on the factory initial timing - then moving it up to 10º will require some tuning - so get things where you want them - and go from there.

 
 Steve Metzger       Tucson, Arizona

Does opening the secondary introduce air only or will fuel be in the mix also? The reason I'm asking is my car is a little rich at idle. I set the idle mixture for max vacuum as recommended but it's still a tad rich.

Durham Missouri

This illustration is lifted from old Demon and /or Holley literature....... Shows the approximately "square" opening seen at the transfer slot when the carb is inverted and the throttle is stopped on its "primary idle speed screw". No fast idle engaged - wound out of the way.

If you can't get the engine to idle with the blade in this position (don't move it) - then you open the secondary a bit to add some intake air.
 
The secondary throttle stop screw is also only seen with the carb off the engine and inverted. In the base plate directly under the vacuum secondary operating pot. Some have refitted this screw with a socket style set screw - I usually put a cut off section of screw in there that protrudes below the base - and adjust it by grabbing with needle nose pliers. Several avenues are available - whatever works is the rule. On all of my manifolds - this area is open, the casting stops short of interfering with the protruding screw.


 
 Steve Metzger       Tucson, Arizona