I wore a set of rings to less than half their original thickness in 2500 miles doing a similar type of cylinder cleanup, except I was scrubbing the cylinders with clean paper towels and lacquer thinner. By the time I reached Tennessee from California immediately after a ring job, the engine was using three quarts of oil to a tank of gas. The oil ring expanders were rubbing the cylinder walls and the compression rings had practically no tension left.
Try rechecking the ignition timing. With the pointer and the ball on the flywheel lined up, adjust the distributor housing so the points just break as the housing is turned CCW.
No, the fuel should not puddle in the manifold unless you're choking the carb heavily.
Jerry
