Oh man... major problems...

[Doward]

Ok, I got a $50 '88 Accord, 5 spd, carb'd, with a busted rear balljoint.

I fixed the balljoint, and am about to yank the carb and rebuild it because of this -

The car runs like hell. Lots of misfiring. Saw that the timing was off, set it (with both vacuum advances off, and plugged) so the pointer was pointing at the + of the flywheel... that was set @ around 1k rpms.

The big problem, is it refuses to idle under 1000 rpms. Now, if I put my hand slightly over the carb, the idle picks up bigtime. I think I'm running major lean, but can't for the life of me figure out why!

New plugs/wires/cap/rotor are going in next... I'm thinking of doing a new timing belt, too, since it does have 152k miles on it. The interior is cherry, so I want to keep it - especially with gas the way it is!

I'm ditching the cat, too, just to make sure that's not a problem...

Float is set correctly, and I did replace both fuel filters, and the pcv valve. I do think I'm lean, but it's weird - if I'm trying to adjust the mixture control, my eyes start burning like I'm running rich... I'm out of ideas!

[A20A1]

might be a clogged fuel passage... how long was the car sitting?

vacuum leaks will cause the stumbling too.
Why are you adjusting the mixture? When did you remove the A/F screw cap to gain access to the screw?

Replace the plugs and other ignition parts as you said you would and get back to us.

[Doward]

I adjusted the a/f mixture screw after I pulled the carb apart, to clean it - had dried (varnished) fuel all over it. It must have sat for a while. Plugs/wires/cap/rotor going on right now...

[Doward]

pulled off some sumithomo wires, and champion plugs.. new Autozone + Denso plugs/wires in now, with a new cap/rotor... same thing.