won't idle below 1000rpm after rod and jet change

Linkage is not held up by the throttle cable or the high-idle cam, I took the carb off and it looks like the throttle blades are fully closed so that should be as it was meant to be, even with the carb off the car and nothing attached to the levers, the throttle arm still doesn't hit the stop, I triple checked, nothing is obstructing it LOL.

In regards to a vacuum leak, I doubt I have one since my manifold vacuum shows a steady 20" of vacuum at idle with no fluctuations what so ever.

With the previous (stock) carb setup the car idled at 750-800 rpm, the idle mixture screws were set at 2 full turns and the car had the same 20" of manifold vacuum, could a rich running carb result in a higher idle...?

I'll post a pic of my spark plug in a sec.