fuel smell from 383 engine

For what its worth..
I also had a brand new, out of the box Edelbrock carb on my 383. Couldn't get it to run right, had a constant backfire, seemed lean.
An old time Mopar mechanic swore the carb was no good...
Had the brand new carb rebuilt, just to show him and he was 100% correct, never ran better.
No more backfire and more power.
New doesn't always mean good.
Joe