Well the test is as follows , and this is a quote from the SU book on carb tuning,
"Clean inside the suction chamber and piston rod guide using petrol or methlated spirit. Refit the damper assembly and washer. Seal the transfer holes in the piston assembly with rubber plugs or Pasticine and fit the assembly to the suction chamber. Invert the complete assembly and allow the suction chamber to fall away from the piston. Check the time this takes, which should be 3 to 5 seconds for HS2 type carbs of 1 1/4 in bore or 5 to 7 seconds for larger carbs. If the time taken is excess of that quoted the cause will be thicj oil on the piston rod, or an oil film on the piston inside the suction chamber. Remove the Oil from the points indicated and recheck. "
SU does not mention any other cause for longer times. I guess they figure that with wear the times should decrease. I would assume that with faster falling dampers a thicker oil could be used to slow the rise and fall of a damper when the car is operating. Using this logic, light oil should be used when the fall time is correct and a thicker , say 10-50, oil could be used for faster damper fall times. If one damper is faster than the other it would be interesting to use different oils in each dashpot to match them. Respect to you Trevor and Jack, but this seems like a better idea than using emery cloth, as long as the carbs speeds can be matched.
Back to my new/old carbs, I am hoping that they were owned by a DPO, and perhaps he switched the dampers in the carbs and all that is needed is to re match the dampers and bells. Oh well time will tell. I will keep you informed in a couple of weeks when I get them and have had a chance to play with them. cheers