Drivabilty vs. Performance help newbie

What oldkimmer said, before you just give up on the build (BTW its not that wild IMO) get the tune right & look into rhodes lifters, I'm not a big fan of eddy carbs with larger cams, I'd invest in a good used holley 750dp 4779.

When you start hopping up an engine & lowering manifold vacuum it changes everything, you can't just exspect it to respond like a stock engine would, you need to re-tune the whole timing curve, i'm sure its a mess & thats why your not happy, get it right & you'll be glad you didn't mess with anything.

I wouldn't mess with the gears neither for now, get the engine right & you'll be happy with the whole combo, it'll be a screamer.

My vote for any changes are these.

Ditch the eddy, get a holley
Get a good adj. MSD dizzy so you can dial in the curve & a 6AL box.