vacuume leak?

While doing some checking on the rebuilt motor on the 64 I checked for vacume on the line coming from the left side of the carb going to the distributor. There is almost no vacuum at all to feel. I put my hands over the snorkels and saw no change in the rpms of the motor at all. Well no wonder the thing never had any get up and go.
Sprayed water around the intake but could not see any change in rpm or hear and water being sucked in either. Could not get any water on the lower side of the intake to check for leaks.
Yet with both snorkels sealed off you would think one could hear air being sucked in somewhere. Any thoughts on what to do next. The carb adjusting screws have little effect on the way the engine runs. The motor is hard to keep running at first start up, have to keep playing with gas pedal till engine warms up.
thanks, Alex

what eng and carb. is the choke set right. throttle screw, at hot idle how many turns in from JUST moving the throttle blades. recent issue.

Is the vacuum line on the carb above (ported)or below (full vacuum) the throttle plate. If it's above you won't get much vacuum if below then you should be able to feel the pull

Its plugged into the power port on the left side as u look at the front of carb. Full vacuum.
The choke seems to work ok. edlebrock carb and 361 motor. I pulled the intake off today and saw that there is a film of out between the pan gasket and the head. This was installed without the gaskets that come with the pan gasket, I hear so much about everyone not using the gaskets. I'm going to replace the pan gasket and use all 4 gaskets this time and see what happens. I know it a pain to get it all lined up. Alex

on my 1406 eddy the left (pass) front nipple is ported. Superformance (on here & good guy to deal with) has .015 thin BB side gaskets. I'm a believer in the gaskets + cement (permatex 99MA "high tack" the red spray stuff in the can) tho many do without but if the height of the bolt holes in the V will allow the use of em then I definitely would suggest going that way