I hit reply on that last message on accident - I wasn’t done!
I had to use my rubber mallet to “moderately tap” the carb cover loose after removing all the screws. The picture below shows why. It looks like the carb was dropped or hit with something sometime in the past. The cover is fine, but you can see an ever-so-slight indentation marked by the red arrow on the carb body. That’s just enough to keep the cover from fitting nicely. I considered trying a hammer and punch of some sort to tap it back into shape, but I think using some coarse grit sandpaper with square-ended instrument may be a better idea. Any thoughts on a best approach?
Also, I’ve seen other discussions on the proper installation and orientation of the carb cover. There is no doubt in my mind that the proper way is with the writing toward the rear of the car, which places the “tubular protrusion” near the dashpot cap facing toward the air cleaner. That’s how all the diagrams I’ve seen show it and that lines up the predrilled holes in the cover and the body for the emissions(?) tags that were wired on. That said, after looking at the design, I can’t see why it would matter, functionally. That “tubular protrusion” is an air passage from inside the top of the dashpot opening that routes into the top of the carb cover, opening into a “common” volume above the carb diaphragm. The red arrows in the picture below show the two ends of the passage. Maybe I’m missing something.
