Thanks again Denny.
I normally crank the engine until it fires up or the starter craps out. This can be anywhere from 2 seconds to 20 seconds. It starts pretty quickly now, so if it can crank for about 4 secs it will start. You gave me advice about the distributor before and I think the timing is fairly close. I haven't adjusted the idle on the carb yet because I was more concerned about the starter problem.
As for the shims, I've been adding and removing shims and just trying. I haven't measured anything. if you have pictures or detailed instructions on shimming the starter, it would be appreciated greatly.