Quote:
you seem to be set on the idea that its the carbs causing fast idle, have you tried retarding the distributor slightly?
Even with an unsafe amount of advance, I'd still expect to be able to get the idle down to a reasonable value. So, even if there's a bit of error in the timing, there's still a problem, probably with the carbs, their set-up, or the linkage.
And the first post said set to 10 degrees before TDC with no vacuum.
If the only problem is the idle won't set low enough, you got to eliminate the easy to find and fix problems with the linkage first and try the WD40 test for air leaks. Then look to the more difficult to find problems like the butterflies misaligned in their spindles, and the poppet valves being worn.
Graham