Timing woes! .... HELP!!!

Hi Guys,
Wondering if someone could give advise on some timing/ carby adjustment issues?
We have a 1946 chevy pick up that has a 235 Blueflame engine in it, it started to have lack of fuel issues, long story short, ended up putting in new fuel pump and recond stromberg carby, still running rough as, checked plugs, no 2 was wet, and had no spark on this plug (dizzy shaft had a bend and badly worn cap/ rotor etc) so, replaced dizzy with recond unit, new rotor, cap, plugs, leads, coil, it now starts up perfect and runs so much better, but.. it smokes like a train at idle - black smoke andalso plugs get black - running very rich, I was going to swap jets but dont have the tool (have ordered one) - I was planning to put in a .55 jet from another spare carby I have, but then I found an aftermarket adjustable main jet valve, so I put this on and it smokes until this valve is wound almost completely in, then revs pick up, smoking stops... great, except for when you go to drive it, when you accelerate, not enough fuel and it dies, pull over adjust valve back out, drives fine, smokes like a train again at idle! bugger! I have connected a vacuum gauge to inlet manifold and checked this against engine diagnosis that I found online and everything is good, while this was connected I got max reading on mixture screw so this is all good, what now?? any ideas?? not sure if ignition timing is absolutely spot on, not sure how to even time it running (Ive done it static lined up arrow on flywheel etc etc) ???
Cheers
Dave
[S

Most people with this motor seem to time it by ear, advance the timing until you hear the spark knock on a test drive, and then back it off just a touch.

Or hook a vacuum gauge to the manifold. Time it to the highest pressure and go from there. Ya have to adjust the idle to the same RPMs at the same time in order to judge apple to apples.