Wow, thanks for the welcome and the great replies.

Jetstang, yes, you've got the idea. Like skids72 said, if I see the need I could use the 4 degree adv. keyway just to keep from trashing the dcr so bad, have I got that right?

On the dead miss, I don't get the impression it's a particular cyl, but rather a problem of lean/poor velocity/atomization/no tailpipes. As I think about it now,just about everything is killing low end velocity, so that's my challenge.

I haven't worked with sb Chevys for years, so the cyl head info you guys talk about on here has helped tremendously. Owner tells me the q-jet's a 750. If's that's so, seems too big to me. Short term, the only thing that might happen is a swap to a 600 cfm Edelbrock. I'm thinking either carb will need some jet work for this combination.

This is a pristine Nova, 55K, and will be only used for occasional shows and cruises, so the "wow factor" of the idle is the main thing. The owner thought the 882's were a good casting. Oops. Cyl head swap is an option long term. So kinda planning carb options around that....

Make sense?