Just can't win, can you?

[Russell]

I know I posted this in the engine and drivetrain forum as well, but I want some info from some of you guys who may not check that forum out at all...

Just when I finally thought I got the silly beasty running properly...

Ok, so I recently did some more work on the engine, and I thought I finally got her going properly, aparantly not... I've improved the milage and power a bit, but the thing still has some issues I wanna fix...

First off, when I start her up on a cold day, she fires right up (usually on the first turn of the starter) but she idles as if she is running of maybe 5 cylinders, it sounds like I've got an enourmous camshaft in her, probally a a second delay in each firing... She also ticks like crazy at this point as well.

Once I get her warmed up, the ticking goes away, and she seems to get a whole lot better, but you can feel a noticable tremor in the steering column, and can kinda hear her missing just a little bit. She also has a major tremor when you let off the gas, kinda like when you are sitting on the bench seat next to a large friend who decides to let a big one rip, that sorta feeling. Also, when I step on it, she coughs and sputters, then accelerates a bit, then finally opens the four barrels and takes off line a little banshee.

And a development as of today, she started dieseling after I turn her off....

Now, for what I've done on the engine:

Replaced the intake gaskets, as well as the valve cover gaskets, re ran most of the vaccume cables (seemed a bit large, could that cause problems?) I also bought it new spark plug cables, a new air filter, and new spark plugs. I installed a good strong distributer on it as well.

I've got the in gear idle set at 700 rpm, and the timing set at 8 degrees BTDC. I just went through and reset the valve lash (back them off till they tick, then tighten them till they quiet up and give them 3/4 more of a turn). I haven't played with the mixture screws on the stock Carter Q-Jet. The idle seems a bit fast in park, and when I had the tach on it, the in gear idle speed seemed to gain and loose 10 rpm ever single time that tremor seemed to happen, its very rythmic...

Any suggestions? I'm getting a bit frusterated with the thing already...