Always bought new cars, I picked up a 1984 Austin Mayfair. I have knowledge around cars but never had to work on them. Being in the maintenance troubleshooting field. 99% of the time it's something easy...  Alright my turn, car is runing great I think EXCEPT: High idles at 1500rpm. I changed out the plugs the other day and they are BLACK, runnign rich? Also have carbon spray from the tail pipe on the rear bumper and license plate, and burning lots of gas. QUESTION......  Running a HIF44/HSU6 Carb, do I adjust the mixture flow first or get the high idle down first? Will one effect the other. 

"figured it out i think.... throttle cable didnt have enough slack on it... was holding it open" 

Yeah - that'd probably do it.  We've got to remember to suggest checking the basics, don't we?  Glad you have it sorted- or seem to be well on your way.  Congrats.

figured it out i think.... throttle cable didnt have enough slack on it... was holding it open......hopefully its the last of my issues for awhile..... Thaks for all the info everyone!

another common source of extra air (giving high idle speed) is from a distributor vacuum hose, either end may be disconected or broken/split.

+2 What Doug and Neal said. I had the same problem. Read this thread (2 page).

//www.minimania.com/web/startreturn/21/MaxReturn/20/StartPage/1/threadid/101361/msgthread.cfm

So....fast idle screw did nothing.... plugs were actually black.... could of been from a it running too rich  in the past... might be running a bit lean now.... checked for leaks around the manifold didnt find anything.... I have the gaskets handy... might just change them anyway...... didnt see a burp valve but i'll remove the carb tomorrow to take a better look.....

+1 for Neal's suggestion.  Since you have rebuilt the carb it is very easy for the fast  idle/choke screw to be holding the idle speed high.

Does your carb have a burp valve in the butterfly? A little spring loaded washer in the throttle plate? They get weak and allow air into the system. You can replace with a non valved plate or solder it shut.

Steve (CTR)

Need to also check that the high idle screw on the choke cam is not controling the idle speed.  Make sure that the choke linkage has fully returned to closed when the choke knob is back in so the choke idle screw is off the cam and the main idle screw is actualling controlling the idle.

My guess is you have an air leak in the intake manifold. Do  a plug chop (visual inspection). If the plugs are white ... I'm right.

Alright.... so the mini is running again.... new coil isn't burning my flesh off when i touch it.... now i have a new issue that might hopefully be an easy fix...maybe......adjusting the timing.... car idles between 1500-2000rpm's at idle..... adjusting the idle speed at the carb seems to have little to no effect...... any ideas? like I've said in the past couple posts... I'm not exactly mechanically savvy... But i sure as Hell am learning a lot with this car.......has a rebuilt carb and distributer

1984-1275cc electronic ignition.... HIF6(HIF44)carb