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That is a very odd wear mark, most probable cause is like you say a bit of shit under the bearing, even perhaps a bruise from impacting something when it was in bits. I've learnt from buying an already "rebuilt" engine that you're buying other people's (unknown) workmanship. Only way to be sure is to do it all yourself

I threw a kit in a ThermoQuad maybe 20 years ago, from memory the main dramas were the plastic acc pump transfer tube kinking when trying to fit it, the leaky main jet wells that are held in place by epoxy glue, and the metering rod piston not sealing, due to the main body being worn (not repairable). Also the plastic body is famous for warping and not sealing. Holleys are straightforward if you apply common sense and as with any carby, treat them like the precision device that they are. I found a couple of areas a bit tricky: the vac diaphragm needs to be pulled into the housing by the actuating rod a tad so that you don't get it bunching up/twisting as you tighten the top cover. Also if it's a single fuel feed, the transfer tube to the rear bowl can be a bitch to line up while installing the front bowl and at the same time lining up the acc pump arm. You'll eventually get the knack after changing jets twenty times. Use a bit of Vaseline on the o-rings too. Run a fine file over all flat surfaces like meter block faces and body to base. Never file off the ridges around the outside of the meter block. They're there to grip the gasket and seal properly. Tighten jets only slightly more than finger-tight otherwise they can seize in there, especially on alloy-bodied carbs. The base gaskets go one way only; the idle circuits are different front to back. The rear idle circuit has tiny little ports below the throttle that may block up. Use a guitar string-sized wire to clean them. Set up your throttle to show 0.020" of transfer slot from underneath the carby. This is the correct initial idle setting for all Holleys. Make sure all of your air bleeds are clean too, they're just as important as jets. Power valve number should be 1/2 your idle vacuum reading. On vac Holleys there's a linkage from primary to secondary that needs adjusting so that the primaries fully shut off the secondaries. If it doesn't, your throttle might hang up slightly from the secondaries not closing after getting on it. Oh and get yourself the nastiest carby cleaner you can find. Dip the whole lot in vinegar overnight to clean it all up That's all I got

Sounds like a sticking hand brake actuator in the caliper. Common problem for all Fords up to ED. Can be freed up with a bit of degreaser and silicone spray after removing the lever and seal behind it.

Yeah sorry was just commenting on ando's post about 2-barrel WWs, sorry to hijack. But good old strommy single barrels are great too, damn near bulletproof. Had two on my 202 ski boat, nice induction roar.

Speedo jumping might be cluster voltage regulator

Neg terminal off while running = fried alternator. The diodes blow out because the reg has no reference to earth, so the alt punches out whatever volts it's capable of (say 18 volts) and fries other stuff along the line, like maybe the voltage reg in your cluster or the alt lamp diode in the dash (hence the dim alt lamp when running). Check batt volts both with engine stopped and running. Switched off should be 12-13 volts, running should be 13-14 (maybe give it a little rev to bring volts up). This will tell you if your alt is good or not.

Old WW strommy.... Great carby, I'd rate them over a 350 if they were as tuneable

The strommies run a leather acc pump piston cup, if left dry they don't seal. Maybe someone on here has an old carby kit lying around?

Yank stuff is often NPT, which is similar but different thread count.

If you're going to drive it on the road, put a kit through the carby. That sticky needle will let you down at the worst moment.

The syncros won't like it. The EP anti-friction component in gear oil means your syncros won't grab and you'll get slow, baulky gearchanges. Thinning it down with ATF allows them to work much better.

I've gone 80W-90 and ATF before, worked well. A light gear oil would work too (say grade 50) or if you can get hold of some ST50 Detroit Diesel engine oil, works well too, that's also spec'd for some jap truck boxes. I tend to think that plain old engine oil isn't up to the task of lubricating gears under load.

I like to take a t45 torx bit, paint it green and put it in the blender for 90 seconds. Then I take it out, throw it through a glass door while wearing a clothes peg on my right ear. I then take the biggest shard of glass, and use it as a ninja star on the neighbour's cat. I then take the incapacitated animal, put it into a large slingshot and fire it into a flock of endangered grass parrots. But that's just me. Sorry what was the question again?

You might be right, and that makes sense. I've read that the pillow blocks started out as an export version for NASCAR but were rejected due to the amount of core shift. Maybe as you say they were a selective thing where the ones picked for heavy duty vehicles got better quality control.

An external check for core shift is to look at the rear cam tunnel bore in relation to the raised boss around it. If it sits fairly central, good chance it's ok. If the cast boss sits offset to the bore, that's not a good sign.

Ambo block = score! They're pillow blocks (if it's a black block) so meatier in many places. Core shift was bad on those however.

Anyone got side-by-side pics and/or dimensional differences?

Depending on what model it's from, core shift might be a problem. It was mostly on the later ones say XD onwards. In any case, get it sonic checked for bore thickness so your machinist knows how far he can punch it out to. 30 thou max on a good block, don't even bother boring a shit one. Everything else is just standard engine stuff.

Stuck float needle by the sounds of it. Take the top off the carby and have a look inside to see if the bowl is filling up

Is your a/c drain blocked? Could you have a dash/windscreen leak that's hidden?

Yeah if it worked that's fine but I'd try and adjust the mix from the high-speed adjuster first before simply choking the flow to get more pull on the fuel. Whatever works I suppose

That thread is commodore size, maybe that could be an avenue to follow.

You can get yourself a "Hobbs" switch, infinitely adjustable and available in vacuum and pressure and screw into a 1/8" NPT thread. You'll obviously want the pressure one.

Sounds like your interlock relay is stuffed. Don't go bypassing it as it's a safety device that cuts gas supply as soon as the engine stops.

I'd be aiming for around 3800-ish. Any higher will put you out of the meaty range on the upshift. Not much between the two engines overall, with the max difference being only 15Nm (albeit more across the entire range) but the original goal was to equal or better the crossflow with better driveability. I think that's been easily achieved and done really well. Hats off to you mate, we're all watching in anticipation for the 1/4 results... No pressure