[kawagumby]

Thanks all, for the feedback.
I finally was able to get the needle to seat. I'm thinking the carb is the later type because I cannot see any threads in the orifice that would support the earlier carb type that uses the brass jet. (mine is a '31 that has been rebuilt by previous mechanics...) more than once by the look of it, helicoils and all.
I think the problem is poor aftermarket parts that vary from the original spec's.
After machining the narrower needle section further back it became obvious that the needle threaded section was the next limiting factor...so I was able to thread it just a bit further (metric pitch).
Then, I machined down the hex portion of the housing where you use the 7/16" wrench to tighten, and extended the 1/8" pipe threads to get the whole housing a bit farther down into the carb casting.

Whew...
The combination of all three mods allowed the needle to just touch where it should. So to test I revved up the engine with the GAV all the way in, and sure nuff, it lean backfires. Cool deal.
Something else, I have two aftermarket needles, and they vary in two ways; one is longer and one is of noticeably less diameter. I used the one that came with the car because it was longer. So who knows if the housing is to spec...I have another one ordered just out of curiosity.



Thanks again all,
Tom