Don't get discouraged, hang in there.
I'm gonna be in Sacramento in a few weeks for a couple days. I'd be happy to come by and introduce myself and help you with what I know. Which isn't everything but hopfully enough to get you closer.
I can bring some basic trouble shooting tools and see what we can find out.
Hopefully you will get it straighten out before then.
First thing I would do is a compression test since it's SB which are pretty easy to get to the spark plugs.
I may even have a good known carb...on my car that I will be driving. We can try it if need be.
I have all the tuning stuff for 1405 too.
I'll PM you the dates if you want and see what your schedule looks like.