RPM Drop From Nuetral to Gear

mopowers,
I'm not an expert but here's my 2 cents:
1) does your dist have vacuum advance? If yes, running off manifold or ported? Is your 22* of timing without it?
2) Before drilling the throttle blades, have you tried opening up the secondary blades a hair so that you can draw a bit from the secondary circuit? You should be able to close the primary blades back once you do this.

(looks like qkuda beat me to it)