Eliminating elephant ears, changing headers

A good part of what I've read "on here" about B/RB swaps is that ears make things easier, generally. I would not be too quick to ditch them if they were done decently. If you mill the thickness of the ears off the water pump housing, you can even use factory pulley spacing

So far as vacuum readings are you CERTAIN you car connected to manifold vacuum? I cannot imagine an engine that generates zero vacuum. It would not be unheard of for the vacuum gauge to have a problem--sticky, etc. In fact I HAVE one.