HEI and Holley 2300 swap and tuning?

I am right in the middle of my HEI and Holley 2300 swap. Its running again and now I am moving onto the tuning phase!

The HEI went in fairly easily. I did replace one intake bolt with a button head allen bolt. I filed the stock 2bbl intake down near the bolt for the clearance needed for the diff. Everything went together well. It did take a bit of work to get the vacuum advance and plug wires in the best postions to allow for the correct amount of inital timing.

The holley 2300 went on and off a few times. On the stock 2bbl intake there are two heat riser passages that need to be blocked off. The carb adapter I used did NOT block these pasages off all the way. This allowed for a very low idle vacuum signal. Once these passages where pluged small press in tapered plugs everything worked much better.

Anyways...here is where I am at and the questions I have.

-Some articles are said 4-8 degrees base timing other said 10. I have mine at 10 right now and am getting a nice strong idle vacuum reading of just over 15". What have other people set there base timing at?

-Is the stock mechanincal advance ok? I am making a timing tape next to help find if the mechanical advance is working and what the curve is. What did others do for this?

-Vacuum Advance. Everything I read says that you need to run an adjustable advance can. My junkyard advance is broken. Has anyone found a non-adjustable unit that will work correctly with the right amount of mechanical advance and vaccum numbers? ( about 10-12 degrees from what I have read)

On to the holley carb swap....

I have 60 jets in right now at about 2500 feet elevation.

The idle mixture was set with a vacuum guage for just below the highest vacuum reading at a 650rpm idle.

I have the stock accelerator pump cam in the number 1 slot with no slop in the arm.

30cc accelerator pump. I need to check nozzle size? What are others running?

I have a big hesitation right off idle. The motor stumbles then picks up. I am thinking I need a bigger accel nozzle or bigger cam?

I think I have a 6.5 power valve. This might be a little low. I need to get everything else tuned so I can get a better cruise vacuum reading.

Please post up all your carb tuning and HEI tuning knowledge!!!!!!

Thank you for your time!