44 B

I know this has probably been posted many times, but I need help! New to me, 44 B. Believe it was neglected in its previous life, Alot of water in both crankcase and transmission, plus a lot of signs it's been sitting outside a while.
Have replaced all fluids and filter. Had carburetor rebuilt by a reputable carb person, here's my problem.
After putting car back on i cannot get it to Idle smoothly. things I have tried since putting carb back on. I have adjusted linkage to 1/2 hole short at wide open throttle, Timed magneto to InPulse at perfectly 3 o'clock with flywheel, (seems to have made it start harder), was about a 1/2 below 3 o'clock originally. Have since removed air intake elbow to eliminate that, cleaned and re gapped plugs, good spark on both.
Tests that I have done are opening and closing idle needle, No change. Closing load needle at 1/2 throttle, Stalled. This leads me to believe that idle circuit is plugged.
Is this a good assumption?
One other thing. With air intake off I've noticed it will pop back thru carb every 5 seconds or so and also pop out exhaust too. This is happening with the choke partially closed to help even out idle. Thanks

May need to go through the carburetor and drill out the passages. Ron MN

As mentioned, take it back to your "reputable carb person" and have him go through it again.

The phrase "reputable carb person" is really poor description. The DTLX is a fairly sophisticated carb and needs more attention than just putting in a carb kit like some carbs do. So unless the "reputable carb person" is well experienced with the DTLX, he really isn't a good choice for rebuilding one.

Having said that, it isn't a bad idea to learn how to care for them yourself and Robert's Carb Repair offers an excellent video on this and is more than worth the money. Almost all issues with a DTLX can be remedied by anyone with basic mechanical skills if they have watched this video, which is a handy skill to have as we don't always have time to send them into be fixed or rebuilt.

I have fought a few of those with unstable idle, and in more than one instance wear at the throttle shaft was a major factor. The sintered iron bushing can be pulled and replaced without too much difficulty.

http://www.wwdsltd.com/files/ThrottleShaftBushing.jpg

I'd run a compression Check on it. Sounds like you might have some burnt valves due to it backfiring. Carb needs some more attention. Could be sucking air where it shouldn't.

As others have said, if that it isn't responding to changes on the idle needle it is probably blocked up. Pull the carb and drill the passages. Even if it was done right when it was rebuilt, any contamination in the fuel system can block them up pretty quick. The other thing is, in order for that idle circuit to work right it can not be sucking any air where it isn't supposed to. Look down in the venturi and make sure than when the throttle plate is closed, it is tight to the venturi all the way around. You shouldn't really see any air/light when looking through it with the plate closed. They often need to be filed on to fit in there just right. Hopefully when it was rebuilt they also put new bushing in for the throttle shaft, they tend to leak and suck air when they get worn. Make sure that when they were installed they were pushed clear down to the venturi. I actually like to push mine down a little proud on the inside and then file them to match the throttle plate profile. If they aren't pushed clear in it will suck air around the plate when it is closed, and you will fight trying to get it to idle right at a low idle.

thank you all for the replies! will look into some different things

Check screen in carb. Could be got a bunch of crap come from tank if it was sitting for a minute. Easy to do it sits top right if your looking at the carb. That being clean Id drain the carb quick. Then open the fuel screw at the tank And verify good flow to the carb. Should be running out solid stream not dripping. Then on to the carb. Ive had 2 in the last 5 years that have been rebuilt enough that the threads holding the seats inside are leaking air and no amount of resealing or rebuilding it will fix I suppose they are just getting to be too old and Im sure they werent intended to last 80 years. Its expensive getting a new one but its also time consuming doing it yourself and expensive to pay someone to rebuild it three times. Leaking air around that idle port inside(or probably more accurately loss of vacuum sucking fuel) seems to cause them to idle very erratically if they start at all. One thing an old mechanic would do to verify fuel problem at the carb would be to ask whats it run like on the ether can? One can even check without a carb that everything else is working for 10 seconds or so...