Spark plugs

He has enough ignition that he should be able to keep the porcelain clean without making a full pass and clean cut.

All the rest is very correct. He needs some heat in the plug. And then once the plug has some heat in it, start looking at timing.
Good point! The plug may be too cold to burn of the porcelain.(keep the plug clean) it may not be as rich as it looks.

didn't he say he was running 14:1 compression?