NOT what I wanted to hear.

OK.. here's a link to the video, showing the tach and vacuum gauge at idle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJRcvtnCPbc

That's not good , and you need to confirm your timing mark , mark ... PM me your address and I'll send you the 360 balancer I have .

How much fuel pressure do you have going to the carb?

Is it more than 5 psi? If so turn it down to 5 psi. I know the ede instruction say that you can run up to 6.5, yet, I've never had one run happy there.

5 max is my suggestion. They are known to blow fuel by the needles with anymore pressure.

Have you turned the idle mix screws in to see if it cleans up at all?

OK.. I'll dial it back a bit. I did notice that when it's just idling, pressure builds up a bit.. sometimes up to 7 or 8 psi.. but once I give it a few blips of the throttle, it will settle back to 5 or 5.5... then after about 20 seconds of idling, it's creeping back up again... I'll try reducing the pressure some more to see how that works.

That pressure creep is DEATH for a ede carb at idle!

K.. went back out this morning.. tried reducing the fuel pressure at the regulator.. dialed it back to 3 psi ... but it still crept up to 7 or 8 after idling for too long.. .a few blips of the throttle took care of it. no noticeable change in idle quality. I did the "hand over the front part of the carb" trick (not sealing my hand over the front openings, just restricting some of the airflow), and noticed a significant increase in idle.. probably an increase of 500 rpm. Vacuum leak. Sprayed carb cleaner around the perimeter of the intake manifold, no change.. however, spraying around the carb, I did notice some improvements. I'm gonna take it to the carb shop today for a rebuild.

I'll have to try that trick on mine

Also try rattling the throttle shafts to see if the bores are worn at all. There should be no lateral movement at all.

Your intake is a squarebore, and not a spreadbore, correct? If it's spreadbore, you'll need an adapter plate to give it more room to seal.

Find someone with a KNOWN good carb, ANYTHING, find a holley 600 vac, and take that one you have off and try it.

The regulator you have is a POS if the pressure is creeping. If you set it at one pressure and it goes above that pressure, it's really not doing anything worthwhile! If you could only handle 100 pounds of weight while moving something from one hand to the other. That weight is regulated and the system suddenly decided to send you 150 pounds of items, what's gonna happen? Likely failure...

Timing, balancer, fuel pressure, carb settings, vacuum leaks and who knows what else is a problem you have.

Time to push it off a cliff and start over!

I went to the carb shop this morning to drop it off... the gal working there was pretty sure there were no vacuum leaks in the carb - she said that Edelbrocks hardly EVER have vacuum leaks above the base gasket, and my carb doesn't look like it had a lot of use, so she didn't suspect any worn bushings causing a vac leak. Based on my explanation of what happened when I restricted airflow to the primaries, she said it may be running too lean, and may need to be richened up... so she talked me out of paying them $200 for a rebuild, and sold me a set of metering rods instead to try to richen it up...

BTW.. I did get (and install) the plate that goes between the carb and intake manifold.. didn't seem to help much

You still have the PB booster and everything else disconnected from the engine?

At least the person was honest with you and didn't just take your money. I doubt the metering rods will do squat at idle...

Do you have a points distributor kicking around ?

What about the gas that's in the car? How old is it?

He could put points back in the one he's running now, right?

There was maybe a couple gallons of old gas in it, but it has been filled with new fuel

Seriously, I'm about ready to have it towed somewhere and just pay someone to get the POS running right for me. I'm going after so many different things (timing, ignition, vacuum, carburetor, possible cam problems, possible compression problems)... it's irritating as hell, and I appreciate all the help everyone's trying to give me, but I know there's only so much you guys can do to help me 'remotely'.. and I clearly have no idea WTH I'm doing. I was all excited to get the car painted, but I think I'm just as discouraged now as I was before I had it painted.

Have you pulled the valve covers to check for any excessively loose rockers ?