Blowin' Smoke! Please Help

I think that's about right compression wise - But on the carb...
What wire is feeding the choke coil? Have you checked to see that it's opening fully, and in a timely manner? With today's fuels, "grey" to me is running rich. I want the plugs basically clean, with a tinge of brown color on the base and near the weld on the ground strap. What I would suggest is checking to make sure the choke is NOT powered by anything ignition related (factory choke coil wire is usually blue and right next to the carb pad if it had one). Pick up the strip kit for that carb... Then I'd check the timing, then using a vacuum gage, check the level of vacuum in gear, at hot idle. Then pull one of the step up springs and see what color it is. I'm thinking the spring is wrong (probably too stiff), and it's probably one or two steps rich on the rods. The smaller Edelbrocks seem to come rich out of the box, the larger ones lean. In other words, make sure the choke works, then tune it.