Time for a little update...
I put a relay on both the line to the coil/distributor and to the starter solenoid and that seems to have cleared things up dramatically. The starter no longer seems to hang and spins nice and fast. No more detectable high RPM misses.
I took the corvette out for a series of test drives and, it seems that I have a sticky thermostat: temp spikes and slow or erratic behavior. I'll replace that within the next few days taking care to drill some holes in the thermostat flange.
Soon I will start looking into tuning what I have... which isn't much: 882 heads, headers, who-knows-what cam, Torker intake and 750CFM Performer carb. I have good compression and oil pressure; I am happy about that.
The idle quality is good - I'll check this weekend how many inches of vacuum I am getting. But from experience, I'd say at least 15. I don't know if it is the cam or the burble of the twin Flowmasters that give the car a feeling of vibration at 2500-3000 rpm. The sound might be misleading me. It almost feels like the rotating assembly was not properly balanced. I'll need to focus my senses the next time I take this for a drive (after I swap the thermostat.)
I rebuilt the carb; it has the original Performer tuning on it. The ignition curve, I still have to check. I am going to double-check TDC. (Anyone have a tutorial on converting a spark plug into a piston stop?)
There is significant bogging when I get on the gas. Peak torque feels around 2800-3000 rpm. Beyond that is seems to run out of steam.
Once I get the basics done, I will take it down to a dyno. I also have a dual wideband O2 sensor... I just need to get a couple of bungs welded in. We shall see what I can find out there.
I also have to remember that I have at least one cam lobe that is worn... that might be a factor; number 8 intake barely rocked over when setting lash.