Drivabilty vs. Performance help newbie

Timing FIRST! Put a timing light on it and see where the initial/idle timing is set. If it's not in the high teens or more, it should be.

If you do go to someone and they tell you to total time it that's all you need, RUN AWAY FAST!

If you can live with the manners of that camshaft, I'd keep it. The ignition timing being set well will help with low speed manners. You have a decent stall converter so that helps. Where does it idle in P and in gear?

The ede 750 is not a good carb, no matter how much fiddling you do with it. If you were to consider replacing one item on the car, that's the first thing I would ditch.