318 4bbl upgrade. Help

So…….Im positive I now need a fuel regulator, I’ve only driven the car 4 times and it’s eating gas like crazy and just running not good. Plumbed a pressure gauge in just after the filter and just as I suspected it’s feeding fuel at 7-8psi into the carb. Not good from what I understand. Unless of course anyone knows of any trick. Running a stock mech. fuel pump, which I also thought topped out at 6 psi max.