Stop in for a cup of coffee

Good call on the vacuum modulator. I’ve had Fords suck trans fluid up and foul plugs before. Sounds like a solid plan of attack. Keep us posted.
So...disconnected the vacuum modulator and smoke cleared up. Win! Still ran rough so I pulled the Edelbrock carb off and put on an 850dp I had on it. After getting floats set, it runs great and is very snappy. Maybe a bit rich yet. Still wants to die when going into gear.