The vacuum still isn't quite where the gauge says it should be, but it runs so much stronger now! However, it has developed a new problem: one night while driving home from class, the engine died like it was out of gas, just kinda sputtered and died. I pushed it back into a parking spot and kept cranking and got good strong cranking but no start. Didn't smell any gas, so I figured it wasn't flooded.
I started thinking maybe it was out of gas, but I had only driven about 20-30 miles on a full tank, and my mileage isn't that bad! Either way, I enlisted the help of some Marines to help push me to the pumps (it died 100 feet away from the pumps when I was returning a Redbox movie), put a gallon in the tank and watched the gas spill out from being overfull. However, it cranked right up at that point after pumping the gas a little.
Is it just vaporlock? The engine is running a bit warmer than it did prior to the carb and intake. I did a new thermostat and housing at the same time. I've also been thinking maybe the old pump isn't up to the increased flow. I've traced the lines as far as I could see coming from the filler neck and can't seem to find any holes or anything.
I'm figuring on keeping this thing for probably at least a year, unless I get a good offer on it that would allow me to get what I really want for camping/DD'ing.