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A Solex doesn't normally need periodic "tuning" and for a stock engine, the default settings are usually OK unless somebody has been piddling with the carb previously and messed it up.
A more likely cause of the kinds of problems you're describing is just plain dirt, especially if the car has sat for a while. If the car doesn't get driven much, it's pretty common for sediment to build up in the float bowl and lines, and/or for the tank to get rusty inside and drop rust flakes that can clog the fuel pickup. This can make the car stall while driving as it simply "runs out of gas." If you've got dirt in the fuel system you won't be able to make much headway on other possible carb problems, so one of the first things you'll want to do once you have the car is make sure you've got this cleaned out.
If you think the fuel system was dirty enough to clog up the jets inside the carb, you can clean a lot of the internals without a complete stripdown -- just (carefully) take off the top half of the carb, clean sediment out of the bowl with an old toothbrush, and blow carb cleaning spray through the jets and passages. A tip I saw recently is to follow that up by blowing out the passages using an ear syringe -- this is a rubber bulb made for washing babies' ears and can be used as a finger-operated "air compressor." You can press the rubber tip against the jet opening for a good seal, and it's gentler than blasting with a shop compressor.
The auto choke can quit working because crud builds up on the linkage or plate, or because sediment clogs up the choke heater or the hoses that run to it. Again, you've got to clean up this stuff before you can find out what else (if anything) is wrong.
Also, don't forget the old high-school-auto-shop-class tip that you should never fiddle with the carburetor until you're sure that all the ignition settings are correct, so check the timing, points, distributor cap & rotor, cables and plugs before you decide that you need to "tune up" the carb.
posted by 24.3.2...
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