Bill - thnx for the reply.
Would having an HEI distributor affect the timing setting?
I advanced the timing to 6 & it smoothed out, seems real smooth at 8 but I backed it down 'cause of HRLincoln's warning.
BTW HRL - your advice is always helpful and always appreciated but ya gotta remember, I'm a danged hillbilly shade-tree mechanic & sometimes I only understand about half of it (OK so I get about 30% on a good day!)
I often wind up doing more research AFTER I read your advice than before! I gotta be careful here or I might wind up a mechanic!
Anyhow, the idle is smooth, but smooth at about 1000 RPM. I still have a wee bit of fluctuation but significantly less now. Vacuum seems to follow the idle rather than vice versa. I checked all the vacuum fittings & all seems good. I'm going to try re-tightening the intake manifold (darn, I sure don't want to take THAT booger off again!) but everything inside, above, and bolted to the block is new so I'm not too concerned about that. Of course, I did bolt 'em all on myself and operator error is a far too common occurance when I pick up a wrench!
I'll tell ya'll this though, if it weren't for ya'll and this BBS, I'd still be unhooking the old girl from the wrecker!
THX.
