Update, I'm losing my mind. I purchased from a local a brand new 6-1 Man A Free header and intake manifold off a 75 2F from a local converting to diesel, both pieces had been machined to match. I measured each bolt location before the buy with calipers and examined with a straight edge, flanges at the bolts were exact and the surfaces were flat.
Stopped by Edwin's open house at the Landcruiser Specialist a couple of Saturdays back had he mated up two Felpro gaskets with a bead of the Right Stuff which he indicated was his fool proof solution to leaks with headers. The following Day I cut off my dual exhaust that was welded to my dual 3-1 headers and mounted up the manifolds. It was effortless in comparison to wrestling with the exhaust attached to two headers. I used all new hardware and it all came together writhe ease.
Since the whole thing had been torn apart I went back thought the carb again with fishing line focused on the idle circuits. Was unable to run line thought the passages below the slow jets and I'm unsure if this is normal, everything else was clear.
Pulled it all back together and fired it up to take to the exhaust shop for a pipe from the header to the muffler. Once done and home I realized that I had accomplished a great deal and solved zero percent of my problem. I extremely confident I don't have a vacuum leak at the head and manifold, but I still can't idle without the choke. Any ideas? I'm going to replace the distributor cap and rotor tomorrow since its been quite a while but I'm really struggling. May pull a volunteer carb that works off another running 40 to mount on mine to eliminate another variable.