I'm an idiot and stripped out the fuel inlet on my Q-Jet

[Beerburglar]

I had a hesitation/throttle stumble under heavy acceleration so I figured I'd rebuild the carburetor and buy a new accelerator pump. The fuel line is a little cumbersome and tedious to loosen up so when I went to hook the Q-Jet back up I stripped out the fuel inlet because I'm impatient and make good decisions. I tried to re-tap it with a kit from quadrajetparts.com, and it seemed to hold the nut (that's what she said). When I hooked it back up the engine ran for a few minutes (although poorly with some skipping), but by the time I got around to the engine bay it started to throttle down and there was fuel spewing out from the fuel-line inlet. So I now I am faced with a dilemma. I am at my wits' end with this Q-Jet. My buddy has an edelbrock 1404 which I haven't seen any info about on any forums anywhere. I bought an adapter ($16 off ebay) for the intake that will fit either a holley or an edelbrock but I don't know if that 1404 will work or if I should just purchase a 1406 from Advance and be done with it. Is there any hope at salvaging that Q-Jet? From what I've read, it's a great carb when tuned properly, but it seems to be an eternal debate on here vs. other aftermarket brand carbs... To be honest, I'm ready to have a ceremonial funeral pyre with that Q-Jet and just go back to coloring with my crayons and helmet. Any help and advice would be much appreciated as always as it's starting to get nice and I want to get that sucker running. Thanks.