Its ALIVE! 351W is running

My first engine build and she's running. I'm thrilled and frankly a bit surprised.
I did my 20 minute run to break in the cam and lifters. I'm changing the oil and filter here in a few minutes.
A couple of quick questions:
1)
I rebuilt the Holley 4160 and it has a pretty bad leak that seems to be after shut-down.
It leaked before the rebuild but I never figured out from where. Now I can see that its from the secondary valve shaft thru the base.
How in the heck can I fix that?
Also, I saw a thread a while back about another brand of carb selling now that was said to be high quality at a better price. I'd like to look into those as well if anyone knows the brand and where to buy.

2)
In the meantime, where do you measure the vacuum? The port in the intake manifold is plugged and I don't see a port on the carb.

3)
its set on about 10 degrees BTDC right now what should it be in the end?

4)
I have a can with a pump to suck the oil out thru the dipstick tube for this go around and I know the time to set up an alternative was while the engine was out but I'd like to fix up a way to drain the oil thru a tube thru the hull if possible. Has anyone done that? any pics?

-- JPASS beat me to the <enter> key!

1. Quick Fuel Technologies is like a next generation Holley carb.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/qft-m-600/overview/

2. Vacuum for carb adjustment should be full manifold vacuum. As such, you can pull from the bottom of the carb or from the carb/manifold spacer. My engine has a hose "barb" fitting on both. The Quick Fuel carb in the link above has the hose barb.

3. 10 degrees BTDC is a good place to start. Your total spark advance is a function of RPM and the advance mechanism of your distributor. Not enough advance and performance will slip. Too much advance is also bad as it can lead to over-heating and detonation or pinging. More advance may also require a higher octane fuel.

4. Sucking the oil out the dipstick tube is not a bad way to go. Just make sure that the oil is warm (not too hot) or it will take too long to remove. A great device for this is the Mityvac 7400 7.3 Liter Fluid Evacuator. If you want the drain hose option, try this link:

http://www.skidim.com/OIL-DRAIN-KIT-302_351_GM-1_2-Thread/productinfo/RK024056A/

JQ

73SN wrote: How do the skidim kits cut the flow? I don't see a valve.

There's a screw on plug on the end. You unscrew the cap to drain the oil I can post a pic of mine tomorrow.

Yes it does,but just so you know the Skidim ones are no different than the ones supplied now by PCM on their engines. I still use my vacuum extractor on it

JPASS wrote: The PO installed the one on our boat.

Is it the same previous owner who would have taken the factory drain out? They've been standard equipment since the late 70's.