Stripped the idle jet screwdriver slot: now what?

[tenders]

After finally concluding the obvious, ie that my A4's unwillingness to idle is indeed due to something in the carb, I removed my carb yesterday and found some gunk in it that easily explain the symptoms.

However, I tried to remove the idle jet, and as noted on this excellent website showing a carb rebuild:

http://home.earthlink.net/~ultratom/carb_site/atomic_4_carb_rebuild.htm

and shown in this picture:

http://home.earthlink.net/~ultratom/carb_site/carb_picts/DSC03235.jpg

"it is sometimes hard to remove the idle jet."

My little flathead screwdriver totally wasted the soft brass slot, which I wasn't expecting -- when I last rebuilt the carb in 2000 I had cut this screwdriver down especially for this fastener and hung onto it for exactly this reason!

What should I do next?
--"easy out" - if those things can EVER work I would think a brass fitting like this would be it
--drill it out? what's the proper procedure to get all the little pieces out?
--Don, do you sell just the replacement idle jet? The other jets from the Moyer rebuild kit I installed in 2000 look just fine

The carb is a late-model, with four (not 5) screws holding the two halves together.

Thanks,
Theodore

[hcpookie]

My question is, what is the condition of the jet? Is it still intact? If so, you may be able to get along with it as-is. It won't be pretty, but if it works then you could avoid the problem altogether.

When an automotive carb has problems, you are sometimes able to drill out the passage, install one of those coil thread replacements (heli-coil?), and start over.

[tenders]

The jet itself appears to be intact--I don't think stripping the screwdriver slot affected the hole, but I don't know for sure. Should I risk it? I would feel like an total idiot if I got the thing back together again and the idling problem persisted.

I've never actually used one but I think a helicoil is called for when the threads of the hole get perturbed. As far as I'm aware I haven't gotten to that point yet...although I can see how improperly drilling out the jet might cause that to happen.

[tenders]

After consultation with Ken, a new carb was ordered. If the boat were out of the water, I'd give the easy-out a shot, but it's silly to waste sailing time messing with a part that can be bolted on with no incremental labor and a 100% certain repair at a cost of only $100 over the rebuild kit.