Interesting timing issues on my carb conversion

[crazypete]

The distributor is newly installed. I marked the position of the rotor with a yardstick and put a piece of tape on the fender and pulled/dropped until the rotor lined up again. I also marked the position of cap position #1 with the same meterstick. But here is a question: If the timing light tells me 10 degrees, then even if it is off by a tooth, I managed to turn the distributor enough to correct, right?

The puddle smells more like water (or water run through an exhaust system, LOL) than fuel.

The distributor is hooked to a "spark" port on the carb. I see zero vacuum while cranking, a rough 5 hg at "idle", or the best idle I can summon at this point and 10-12 hg if I blip the throttle. I have a vacuum guage hooked to the "full manifold vacuum" port on the carb

Looks like a lot of the older cars use much less timing than 10 degrees, more like 6 degrees. This is why I ask