hei timing question

[dyingdeadman]

I got my hei installed, but the motor seems to run kinda rough. when its in gear (at a stand still/stopped) it seems to surge a little. my carb isnt in very good shape but will be fixing that hopefully next weekend.also the engine seems to be pinging or rattleing a little during acceleration. sry rambling. anyway the engine is a stock 402 b.b. have 2 questions

1. what degrees should I set the timing at?

2. could the bad carb be causing the problem or could it be a vacuum leak some where.