Thanks for the advice everyone. Additional info - 4.10 gears, 4 speed. Vaccum advance is hooked up correctly to the ported vacuum, not manifold vacuum, but I will plug it during my tuning phase (I don't get good mileage anyways)

Based on what you've given me, here's my plan

1) Bump the idle up to 1000.
2) See what I get for vacuum.
3) Drop my PV's to 2 numbers below my vacuum. I'm assuming I'll be in the 3 to 3.5 range once I get the idle to 1000 (guessing 5 to 5.5 of vacuum)
4) Retune the idle mixture to get best vacuum
5) New set of plugs and check for color at this point

Stage 2 (optimize timing - which will wait until the cool whether passes next spring)
5) Up the initial timing to get best vacuum?? Not so sure on this - Am I aiming for highest vaccum while maintaining my 1000 rpm idle? Won't I get to a point where it won't want to start?
6) Recurve the distributor to get my higher initial and reasonable total (in the 36 to 38 range??). All in by ????
7) Now the fun starts - upgrade to MSD ignition and distributor. Based on all these mods, now I'm going too fast. Upgrade to front disc brakes. Now it's so fun to drive I need to upgrade the suspension. Wow, this is a viscous circle, isn't it?

Let me know if you see any problems with my initial plan.

Thanks