my buddy, a drag racer of 12 years, came over to lend a hand. now i have enough hands to keep it running and check things out. we go through everything and it all checks out. we go to start it and sure enough, instand replay of yesterday. he takes the air cleaner off and tells me to start it up. i do and he keeps it running manually with the throttle lever on the carb. he grabs a flashlight and inspects the inside while its running. gives me the shutdown signal. he then tells me that there is no fuel flowing with the plates closed, he says we are keeping it running with the squirters. we go through the carb real quick. plenty of fuel in the bowls, squirters work fine, fuel pump works. but after another start, same thing. with the plates closed, no fuel. he said the everything cam and dist related is installed correctly but since i dont have enough fuel to sustain idle i dont have the time to keep it running and set the timing, let alone check anything else. a spark boot burned on a header and arced out which ended our testing for the day, but he claims he is not very good with carbs in general, and not at all familar with holleys. hes always ran carters, and for the last seven years has had mechanical methanol injection. so here i am with a brand new(which is why i never even looked twice at it) holley 750 vacuum secondary carb that i have no idea on how to fix it, and wont get much help from him either

what do you all think???????????