Ford 300 6 Carb removal?

We just scored an 82 f100 shortbed for the 15 year old.   The idle is terrible so we found that the carb is not bolted to the manifold! Just sitting there. The screws that hold the carb are pretty much impossible to get to. Something on the back is holding the carb in place and we could not find it last night. Any thoughts?   

Choke cable?  PVC or brake booster vac hose?

Looks like a standard 2-hole flange on the throttle body. 

This is a V8 image, but same on a six; look for a small bar heading from the carb to the manifold.  It's a bimetallic strip that moves the automatic choke, trips me up every time.

In reply to 914Driver :

THANK YOU! I bet its on the back of the carb. 

there is 3 screws going up from the bottom, from the throttle shaft base into the main body, these are most likely loose or missing, there should be 2 nuts holding the base to the intake (these rarely ever fall out).

take another look and see if this is the case

In reply to warpedredneck :

I can't see the third screw through the vacuum mess but the two screws we can see are justt hanging there. Is there a way to tighten the screws without taking the carb off?

You'd probably be better off removing the carb and throwing a rebuild kit in it, gaskets at the very least, it's cheap. Dip if necessary. Reassemble w/ blue Loctite on the body screws as they will vibrate loose again if not. 

This got to be a ritual w/ the Carter 1 bbl. on the 300, and I owned a few.

Drove almost 50 miles today bringing it home. Amazed that it runs and drives as well as it does with the carb basically detached from the manifold.

i cant remember any other way, im 90% sure the carb has to come off, 

More like 100%

SPG123 said:

Drove almost 50 miles today bringing it home. Amazed that it runs and drives as well as it does with the carb basically detached from the manifold.

Of course it runs and drives. It's a Ford 300. All they know how to do is run, even if it's poorly. On the bright side, it'll probably run better with the main body attached to the throttle body.