I will look into the carb, vacuum, timing issues first as I am fairly confident in the cam, springs etc. due to all the previous issues my builder really went all out to ensure the correct cam, springs were all dead nuts.

I am leaning towards a carb set up due to the fact that last spring when I bought my Q-jet from 69firebirdman, all I did was take it out of the shrink wrap, set it on the intake & hook everything up. I never touched a screw or anything as I have no clue what I am doing when it comes to carbs.