That is suspicious. It's almost like the rack is not moving all the way to the full load position. You could check this by removing the side cover plate on the pump and moving the rack by hand, but you'll want to order a new gasket before you remove the plate. I'd do this after eliminating some other problems though.



You need to check it with pressure, not vacuum. All this does is verify the shaft seal is not leaking. If the shaft seal does leak, you'll lose some part-throttle power, but it won't affect full throttle power. If an aneroid capsule is cracked, it will still hold pressure or vacuum, however it should actually increase fueling, not decrease it. If you remove the ALDA, make sure you can press down on the center shaft with your finger, it should move up & down. Could be that it's stuck in the down (lean) position... rare failure, but I've heard if it before. This would not explain the weird stop lever movement though.



Yep - that is most definitely not normal, and when the lever is down like that, it's restricting the fuel rack and reducing fuel delivery. You have gone for a test drive with the lever wired into the fully-raised position, correct?