Success! After much difficulty getting the idle carb passages squeeky- clean, and replacing the low speed needle "bearing" that I didn’t know existed before being helped out by you guys, this 1977 9.9 Johnson idles down for back-trolling perfect. The only thing not working is the broklen parts associated with the minimum idle speed knob on the side, but my friend can live fine without that. Yeah I put in the rest of the stuff in the carb kit too, just because I had it. I got by without removing the lead shot. Had to remove/replace the mixing chamber welch plug, but that was no big deal.

Thanks for all the help!
Dave

So far, I’ve never had to remove lead shot, and only had to remove welch plugs two or three times now that I can remember. This carb had a big welch plug I removed over the mixing chamber. To set the new one in, I put a 5/16" socket wrench on it and tapped it with a hammer – it worked great!. I had the bowl and float off, and set it on an open vise with the bottom side edges on thin pieces of wood.

Dave