Using vacuum gauge to tune engine?

"The engine doesn’t idle as smooth as it used to and the gauge bounces around by about 2 inHg"

If the only thing you did is fix all the air leaks then I'm tempted to say that it needs more air????????? When it was leaking the engine ran more smoothly? Of course this was at a higher RPM which might have been hiding the lack of smoothness at a lower RPM??
A healthy cam usually equals a rough idle, especially at the lower RPMs.