The ONE good thing about a Holley is that they can be tailored to work on about anything. So much of it can be modified in one way or another. From jets to idle feed restrictions to power valve channel restrictions-it can all be modded to work for almost any given application.
That said, there are many ways to tune. Dyno. Drag strip. Or my choice-a wideband O2 meter. With a properly working wideband, you can tune idle, part throttle, wide open, everything. Same thing can be done with a dyno session but it's time consuming. But then again so is DIY with a wideband. Every engine I've run an 0-1850 on has needed to be leaned out a good bit. On an old GM 350, I went from 64's down to 54's and it was still too fat at wide open. 54's were all I could find locally. Sold that old pile of feces with the carb on it.
Going to a smaller carb isn't going to help. Sometimes it can make it worse. If you're having to jet it leaner now, chances are good that the boosters are getting a good signal and really putting a "pull" on the jet, which is good thing (most times). I'd try to work with what you have until you can't work with it anymore. They're VERY flexible. I always said that if somebody can't get a holley to work on their engine (and it's not grossly over or under carbed), they need to switch to injection.
Keep messing with it. And do some reading. And don't be afraid to experiment with things. Oh and one last piece of advice....90% of carb questions that are answered on forums are answered by those who know how to make one run....but do they know how to get it dead on??
