[Jake1074]

So good news, perhaps not so good and maybe bad news...

Good news is I adjusted all of the valves which improved the idle as its now working on all 8 cylinders. The left side - 1,3,5,7 were pretty much correct. 2, 4,& 8 were good as well - # 6 was way out of spec. The popping back thru the carb is gone. Test drive has great power - a whole lot more and somewhat impressive than I have experienced since I've owned it.

Not so good - Vacuum really didn't improve - still fluctuating as before, but is much better when increasing RPMS. Power brakes work great so no issue there with vacuum. I also did readings at the intake manifold instead of the carb port. Still hard to start when hot but that is most likely heat saturation of the starter as cold start today was almost immediate. Have a replacement gear reduction.

The maybe bad news is right side exhaust is now smoking a bit - has never smoked before. Perhaps a valve too tight? Left side exhaust is perfectly clear.

A slight miss which I think is the plug wires. Will correct the lack of advance issues when I replace them. At this point everything electrical / distributor wise will be new. Carb and fuel filter replaced and adjusted properly.

I'm guessing I've done some good diagnostics - but not sure if the problem is fixed or not. As many have said - may still be a wiped cam lobe.

Most welcome to any suggestions to validate the cam is wiped before I take the plunge to replace it. Would hate to pull it and find it good and that I missed something simple.