Thanks Barnett,
Followed all the steps below. Seems to be idling relatively smooth now out of gear but in gear (auto transmission) it gets rougher. Could there be a leak with the transmission vacuum modulator? The car shifts well through the gears. Timing is now at 12 Deg BTDC, idle mixture screws 1 1/2 turns out, idle in gear around 800RPM. Cheers
progress, xlnt!
Highly unlikely the modulator has a leak but you can plug it off and test it.
You can use a can of flammable brake cleaner with the nozzle and lightly spray around the carb base to see if the idle changes.
1. Does it still do this:
"The idling actually smooths out when I remove the stopper from the manifold vacuum port on the base plate".
2. Are you positive your spark plug wires are in the correct firing order for the cam you have?
3. Do you know which cam it has?
4. Does it have a big cam?
5. How many rpm does it drop when you put it in gear? It shouldn't drop more than around 150 rpm.
6. Is the distributor vacuum still disconnected?