Any small tips to help ET?

I have Sumitomo Gt's on the rear, 255mm. I can't remember the RPM through traps, although I do have a tach. All I remember is barely being in third. And yes, I am shifting manually, about at 5700rpm. I still haven't found the sweet spot yet, I will have to wait until I am consistent. And static compression is 9.3:1, and if I remember right, the dynamic is somewhere around 7.4:1 (maybe). What the most advance I could probably run? -Just so I don't accidentally put too much and ping like crazy? I'll have to grab my paper that tells me the timing later, I'm about to do a SkillsUSA practice run. Wish me luck :toothy10: But I think I had maybe 38 degrees of advance at 3k, does that sound right? Stock distributor, weights and springs.
And for blocking the heat to the intake, I have an Eddy RPM airgap, would it benefit doing a little fabrication? I have thought about building some sheet metal plates that go over the headers, and maybe bolt it to the valve covers.