[lust4speed]

Looks like the water pump pulley is smaller also, so his ratio might not be that terrible. No use doing anything with the timing light at this time since you have nothing to reference it to. It would be cheaper and a lot less trouble to find a bolt on timing tab. Even with a replacement timing cover, it still is a good idea to verify TDC, so why not save the money and get the tab - and then verify top dead center and bolt the tab down in its correct location.

So few of us run stock timing, and I don't see a great benefit in knowing the true timing advance. The mechanic should have done several test drives to see what timing the engine was happy with, and the trial-and-error method will give much better results than setting it by the book. Another reason to not set it by the book is today's lousy gasoline along with the combination of stock heads and pistons might require less advance. This engine will tell you where the distributor should be set. A good mechanic only starts with the timing light settings and then goes on to fine tune the engine for best drivability. You are close enough to proper timing to skip part one with the timing light, and just move on to finding the best distributor setting.

I agree with others that your Quadrajet needs to be set up properly. It's a good looking carb and appears stock as long as you don't get close enough to read the numbers. I wouldn't change it, I'd just find someone cabable of going through it and curing the minor problems.