Bullit;

It might seem like a pain, but doing things out of order, or taking something for granted can send you down the wrong path and waste lots of time and money. Please resist the urge to assume anything! Almost everyone on this board who has EVER had their hands dirty working on a car can tell you their tale of woe that resulted from taking a shortcut. Heck, I've got plenty of those stories myself!

Just remember that sometimes, the cure to the problem you're describing is drilling holes in the throttle plates of your carb. Drilling holes that you cannot easily undrill is the very last resort - we need to be sure the basics are coverd first. Hence checking the timing and knowing what you've got.

Do you have any "car buddies" from whom you can borrow a timing light? If not, look on eBay. You don't need anything fancy due to the fact that you have a timing tape installed. A used timing light will be more than sufficient.

Did you ever try screwing the idle mixture screws in to see if the engine would stumble or stall from a lean misfire? If it will, that's a good indication that you can get rid of some of the excessive rich condition with idle mixture adjustment. If not, it's yet another indication that the throttle plates are too far open at idle.

The previous poster gave you some good info for timing setup.

Does that AED carb have 4 idle misture screws or 2?

Jim