where do you learn the how to set and tune your carb,  is there a glossary or diagram showing all the parts and the when and why to tinker with different settings for fuel to air ratio  

It depends on what kind of carb you have as to where you should go. Whatcha got?

-Rob  

it is a science ... it is learned.. find a carb manual.. not just the instruction sheet..  they are available online for oem carbs and from performance manual publishers for hi performance carbs.. and there has been a ton of articals written on this site under tech... search...for them..

the rebuild instruction sheets do have a lot of information...  and direct how to set things.. a great place to start.    a good idea is to read that before taking the carb apart.. there are a few ajustments that you dont want to ajust on q jets as there is no easy way to put them back ...  read rebuild instructions first..

there are differnt circuts in a carb..
idle, transition, several differnt main circuts... an enrichment circut.   something called a choke...

to get the most basic settings on any carb...
you will need a vacuum gauge to do this without experiance...$20 bucks ... fuel pump vacuum testing gauges work better as the gauge is larger..
start it up  and warm the engine..til it get to running temp... ( this is on non feedback carbs)
with the gauge hooked to manfold vacuum..  start turning one of the idle mixture screws in watching the vacuum readings.. it should start to drop.. stop...  back it  out slowly.. until it reaches the highest vacuum reading. you will need to do this a few times to find the highest vacuum reading.. then go to the other idle mixture screw and start turning it in...  again watching the vacuum reading..  when it start to drop,  stop and start turning it back out slowly.. until it also reaches the highest vacuum reading.... in an out a few times til you are sure..  if the idle speed is ok,    go back to the other screw again...  if the idle speed is too high.. lower it.. and start again back and forth on the screws...one side then the other...

once both sides are at the highest vacuum reading..  and the idle speed is ok.. turn the idle screws in til each one drops 1/2 and inch of vacuum...  usually 1/4 or 1/2 of a turn..  this is how i learned in trade school along time ago.. it only takes about 4 minutes to do on most cars...

electronic carbs are totally differnt...

most performance holleys don't have that much mixture ajustment.. set it at 1/4 to 1/2 or a turn off the stop and then set the idle speed and its done..


by setting the idle mixture settings to 1/2 of an inch of vacuum below the max setting  gets you be best idle usually also it get a tiny bit better milage and won't kill the plugs...  since the idle circut runs most of the time.. it can totally effect the fuel mixture..


Q....hmmm... has anybody played with the idle mixture settings on a dyno to add a little more fuel to the hi speed to see if you need to go to a larger jet???

or at the track to richen it up  or lean it out a bit for differnt weather conditions.. instead of changing the jets...  

appreciate it you all,  i got my motor running last night and got the police called on me by my neighbor, it was about 7:00,  only revved it up to about 3 or lil moregrand, just to see if everything was seated, i think my valveclearance is off a little bit, didn't think roller rockers was such a hassle, its just a little bit of valve clatter from the rocker arms so the good feeler guage is back out the box, oh yeah, the cops had me start it up again when they got there, got a laugh out of that one, thanks everybody, keep it up and straight