here's what I did when I took mine out of the box. after install, I turned the idle screws all the way in then back out 1.25 turns, filled the fuel bowls via a turkey baster then checked the float levels, mine we good. I cranked the idle screw up then fired the car up, let it stay at 2400 and set the timing in full at 36* Then I backed the idle down to 900 and set the mixture screws until I got the best vacuum signal. Then dropped the idle back down to 900. With your compression and aluminum heads you probably could run 38* total. I don't know why he said he'd fine tune it in a few hundred miles... I'd walk away for that guy. No need to wait.
Do you have your vac advance hooked up? Try blocking it. Also With that cam you might want to swap out the outboard springs. Stock PV is going to be 6.5...what type of vacuum signal are you getting?