Yes 18 at idle, is the same with or without connecting the vacuum advance, but I had it disconnected (when connected its on the ported circuit). It runs pretty good and pulls hard, but just seems wrong and I don't want to break anything. The cats were still in good shape, the rattle was them touching together, so I had a tiny spacer welded in

I always run vacuum advance off of manifold vacuum. I like it to be advancing at idle (when you really need it with a lumpy cam). Try it this way and see if you can't close up the throttle blades, lean out the idle mixture screws and lower your overall idle RPM's. At idle (try to get it down to 700RPM so mechanical advance isn't kicking in), you should be seeing somewhere around 40-45* advance with the vacuum advance can hooked up.

Are you sure the exhaust smell is fuel and not blowbye from a bad piston ring seal (just a thought if the above doesn't work)?

i connected the vac advance to the full vac off the carb, and it pulled the idle way up, but as i said, i cant time it past 16* because thats as far as the marks go, si i connected it back to the ported vacuum. i estimated and put it just outside the timing plate at about 18* and its running pretty good, i changed out the pcv last night since it wasnt "rattling" but have yet to start her up to see if it still smokes. it doesnt smoke immediately, only between 30 seconds after startup and up to about 2 minutes of warmup and poof, its gone. i dont think its bad rings, or hope its not, but i will do a compression test this weekend just to make sure.

its dark gray, almost like the carb is leaking a little and it has to burn off the excess when it starts up

When you hook up the vacuum advance, the idle should go way up...this allows you to close the throttle blades (and lower the idle back down). This, in turn, will close up the transition slots more and lean things out.

Smoking for a little while and then going away...I would put my money on valve stem seals.

well it didnt smoke tonight, since the pcv change.... and it is stupid fast. i put my hand in the exhaust stream...and got speckled with soot and water? doesnt necessarily smell like gas, its a little rich smelling, but in all honesty smells like any other exhaust. not sure why the water, i guess its just condensation....definently not coolant...and i think its blasting the soot out of the exhaust making "gray smoke" until its either all gone or warms up enough to vaporize it. does that make any sense?

That makes sense. I forgot that you mentioned running a "hollowed out" PCV. You really need that valve in there or it will suck too much oil into the intake (and cause smoking). It sounds like you have everything pretty well sorted out.

Your next step should be to tune for WOT. Best to do that at the dragstrip where you can monitor MPH (not ET). Put in new plugs and make some passes. Try not to let it idle after a pass and check the plugs right away. Add jet until the MPH drops. Compare the new jet size to the starting jet size. The change in area is the amount you want to open the power valve channel restrictions. Once you drill out the PVCR's, you can drop the jets back down (so you are not cruising rich).

Going back to your previous post... What should my timing be (best guess) at idle vacuum advance off and plugged? If I set that, then connect the vacuum advance to full vacuum port, then turn the idle screws to get the idle back down near 700... In that order? I hate running too rich and risking my rings!

At idle (as low as possible to make sure mechanical is not kicking in), I think 16 is a good place to start. Of course, you want to check what the maximum is then to make sure you aren't over 36-38 total. If you are, you need to limit the max by modifying the distributor.

Then, hook up the vacuum to full manifold and you should be somewhere in the 44-50 range. This will allow you to close the throttle blades to bring the idle back down.