I have the choke housing rotated so far counter clockwise that the choke cant close. I dont need the choke feature , but i am not sure if it relates to other circuits of the carb. I really want to throw this Edelbrock in the garbage can. I wish I could afford to put a Holley mechanical carb on it, but right now I have to make this carb work.

On another note, I found this article online. Is it safe to spin to 5600 Rpm? http://www.chevyhiperformance.com/te...cam_355_build/

Depends what your internal parts are. A properly built motor with correct clearances and solid parts will obviously withstand sustained high(er) rpms than one with cast parts of marginal quality. I'd prop it to get you to max HP rpm, what ever that may be.

She wants fuel....maybe. You're already conservative on the total timing. Shouldn't be an issue, some run locked timing like that with no issues. Unless you have a intake valve hanging slightly open from a tight lifter give it more fuel through the accelerator circuit. You make want to recheck the rocker adjustment / lifter preload to rule that out.

So i checked my timing today after I re-lashed the valves. at idle i was at 7*, 1000rpm- 11*, 1500rpm- 15*, 2000rpm-16*, 2500rpm- 20*, 3000rpm- 23*, 3500rpm- 25*, 4000rpm- 27*, 4500rpm- 28* . I adjusted it so not its at idle- 9*, 1000rpm- 14*, 1500rpm- 17*, 2000rpm- 20*, 2500rpm- 23*, 3000rpm- 25*, 3500rpm- 27*, 4000rpm- 30*, 4500rpm- 31*. I checked it a few times both ways. I feel as if the advance should be faster. I am gonna check the distributor for free movement. I was able to use the idle air screws to tune the idle a bit as before I couldn't. Its an improvement.

who's dist are you using? on a vortec head max timing is 32* running trmps on the cool side,,higher temps that 140* then you want to run it at 30*..set it up so you have 12* at idle and set the mechanical advancr to 32* and see how it runs..it depends on the dist you have to set the max advance in it..

I have an old school mechanical distributor, Mallory YL I believe, with a points replacement module. I just took it apart and one of the pins was broken off the plate. I fixed that, lubed it a bit. Works alot better. I set it at 32* all in and it falls at 10* at idle. The movement of the advance is perfectly smooth now.

I can adjust my advance with a set screw under the cap.

Do your carburetor idle screws have any effect on the fat side now? In an earlier post you wrote that they could be backed all the way out. That should not be.
A quick check you can do is to spray some carb cleaner around the base gasket and the intake manifold gasket while it's running. If the idle picks up there's a leak. Once your timing is right, set your idle to 750 rpm, in neutral, warm engine; and redo the mixture settings.
And see if it runs well on the primary carb bores, you were saying that it settled and ran well at higher RPMs before, that's when you had your secondaries open. There is something that might be out of whack in your primaries. But the timing could solve it too, so if it runs well and the mixture screws can stumble it both rich and lean after the timing is right, then you are set,

There is still a slight stumble when I floor it fast. The mixture screw do work now. It is alot better. I feel as if maybe I could either re-curve my distributor for more timing at lower rpms and leave the total timing where its at, or fatten up my primary circuit.