I remember you having trouble with the hydraulic rollers and asking questions on Comp Cams forum. Sorry to hear you never did get that straightened out.
I drove my 88 D150 for over a year with a stock 96 junkyard 360 Magnum and enjoyed every minute of it. RPM air gap with 1" open spacer and a 770 Holley street avenger it made just over 400tq and 308hp at flywheel. Made driving it anywhere fun. I ended up putting small roller cam and rpm heads on...
Here's the same stock junkyard 308 hp 360 magnum that raced on friday nights for a year running 13.80's in a 3560 lb pickup a year later. Still completely stock short block but with rpm heads and a mild 230/236 @ .050 .577 lift cam added. 440 Tq 457 Hp at flywheel and has taken the now 3380 lb...
If you haven't started on the 79 yet I'd go 360 Magnum junkyard motor with RPM air gap and 770 street avenger and never look back. My 96 Mag made just over 400 TQ and 308 HP at flywheel with nothing more than that.
6 lbs is a good preasure setting for a Holley. 7 lbs and higher pressure can overpower the float even with carb sitting stationary. If you have 6 lbs the entire pass you have plenty of fuel waiting to come in. Im just guessing that you're using a Holley style carb.
We are showing up on registration day and hoping for some no shows. If they turn us away I promised wife we'd spend that week in Vegas since we already have the week scheduled off. I bet we'll be racing tho.