Engine requires 20 degrees of initial to idle well...

If i understand correctly, your true static compression ratio is pretty low, maybe as low as 7.8-8.0 to 1. Even though you have a resonably mild cam, it's still gonna bleed of a little cyl. pressure also. Vacuum reading on vid was not extremely low, but that's a 30 deg. initial. I'm gonna think on it a bit, but i'd like to see the results of a compression test?