I am sorry I was not clear in the past.  As originally purchased all 3 carbs were essentially the same with the front and rear carbs blocked.  I sent all 3 in for rebuild.  The rebuilder recommended that the chokes and idle circuits be removed from the secondary carbs.  I don't know exactly what he did to remove the idle circuits, but he said that I would never get the engine to idle properly if the idle circuits stayed in place.  He said there would be virtually no air bypass in the secondaries at idle.  He said that is probably why the original owner blocked them.  (He told me he did it to improve fuel economy)

Ah-Hah!  The idle circuits were eliminated in the "end" carbs.  Is it possible that an end carb got installed in the middle?  Or a missed communication with the rebuilder and he identified the wrong carb as the center one?  Or a carb got mis-labelled after the rebuild?  Looks like the first order of business will be to verify the center carb on the engine has idle circuits.

One more question.  Do you have progressive or direct linkage?

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

Another question? the car's a Crown Vic, so it's a 55 or 56. Does it have the original Load o Matic, vac advance only distributor setup? If it does, that's at least part of your problems, with a Tri- pwr setup. It's a known (by some) problem going back to the  60s) and  I'll let someone better qualified than me explain why it won't work properly without mods.  


Paul

I{t is a '56.  It has an aftermarket distributor. There was only one carb with a choke plate so I don't think a switch is possible.  The carb rebuilder explained to me about the two different vacuum outlets and I think the Holley has both.  One outlet has no vacuum at idle while the other does.  I discussed this with my machanic.  Remember on my first post I said we replaced the tri-carbs with an Edelbrock 4bbl and it runs fine with the 4bbl.

I do not know all the details.  I had a stroke and I am confined to a wheel chair down here in Florida.  My car is in Michigan and I have hired a mechanic to do all the work.  I think he is a good mechanic but a poor communicator.  I think I am a good mechanic and I hope to get back someday and work on it myself.

 

The Holley 94 will not provide the correct vacuum signal for a newer dual advance distributor unless it has been modified to do so.  The builder should be able to tell you if he modified it or not.

The Edelbrock will have the correct vacuum ports for the modern distributor.  However, if everything was hooked up to the 94 just the same as it was before and it no longer runs right, then it's not very likely that it has to do with the ignition.  It could be a coincidence that something has happened to the ignition but it's not likely.  An easy way to rule out the vacuum advance portion is to simply disconnect it and plug the ports and leave it disconnected until the issue is resolved as the vacuum advance is not required on the dual advance distributor - it is an economy feature.


Lawrenceville, GA

I would of thought that you could of had them all idling no problem [well a bit of a PITA tuning] , just use a progressive linkage, you probably wouldn't need to touch your power valves??  . maybe its why I like 97's  



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

The Holley 94's, in my experience, has only one vacuum outlet.  It is located in the rear of the carb, to the right (passenger) side.  As mentioned above, this vacuum port does not give the proper vacuum signal for a later distributor.  Plug the vacuum port and close off the vacuum line to the distributor.  As was mentioned above, the distributor will operate fine without the vacuum advance.  I assume that the end carbs have had the power valve removed and a plug put in their place. Are you running progressive linkage - you should be with the end carbs being modified.
Another item that I have been told regarding multiple carb set-ups.  Always run the choke plates in  all the carbs as they are designed to flow air with them in.  Wire the end ones wide open




54 Victoria 312;  48 Ford Conv 302, 56 Bird 312
Forever Ford
Midland Park, NJ

I do have the progressive linkage.  All the suggestions will have to wait until spring.  The tri-power set-up is off the car for now.  The center carb is going back to the rebuilder with a plea from me to please, please get it right.  He has a mule engine in his shop with adapters to install any carb he rebuilds to the mule engine.  So I am asking him to put my carb on that engine and blip the throttle a few times.  He seems like an "OK" who will stand behind his work.

So Last year, my newly purchased 55 Sedan Delivery came with a freshly rebuilt 292 and a tri power with 3 new 94's from Edelbrock. Was doing similar things that you have shared. So, I consider myself to be a fairly competent wrench with basic carb rebuild skills. I have had experience setting up several systems using 2G carbs, so I went with what has worked for me in the past. You mentioned changing out the base plates, which is good, but the rest is sketchy. I purchased a kit from Charlie Price in Florida. Came with everything needed to convert the secondaries to dumpers. Easy to instal and has worked great for several thousand miles, including 15 mpg. One thing he mentioned is the need for a fuel regulator, which I don't remember reading here. He suggested a 1-4 psi unit, which I followed up with a gauge. Being you are relying on other people to assist with your problem create's a lot of unknown variables. So I wish you luck.  

https://www.parts123.com/parts123/PartFrame.asp?ZTM=cadegdha&GHOME=www.vintagespeed.com&TITLE=VINTAGE_SPEED  

All the early carbs were designed for not more  than 2 1/2 PSI otherwise it may overpower the float


54 Victoria 312;  48 Ford Conv 302, 56 Bird 312
Forever Ford
Midland Park, NJ