While performing a vacuum test per a TPI article in HPPontiac Magazine, my 181K motor checks out ok. One thing I noticed though was that when the accelerator is pressed quickly, the vacuum reading would drop a lot before increasing along with the rpms. You could call it a slight hesitation. Once the reading dropped all the way to Zero as the car cut off. What could cause this? If this can be fixed, I could have better throttle response, right?

 

It sounds like your engine is reacting completely normally. Test any other engine that is in good operating condition, and you should get similar results.