Hey everyone, I have been reading for weeks but not able to post till now. I have an 88 4cyl that has good compression and timing is set correctly but still have performance issues. I think a weber is the way to go here with no smog testing but I am considering rebuilding it but unsure of the probability of ending up with a good carb. I know they are a pain to rebuild but I have had one apart years ago in college.
The thing that has me really scratching my head at the moment is I have little or no vacuum at the accessory vacuum control box on the fender well. When I pull the main hose off that goes directly to the intake I can see fuel vapor and feel a slight pulsating vaccum/pressure. My parents had an 87 ram 50 with the same engine and I thought there was a strong vacuum signal on that line. I was wondering why because I had the head off and had a bad exhaust seat fixed and have 150lbs of compression across the board.

I am unsure if backpressure from the converter could be causing the no vacuum on that line issue because I had the air pipe unhooked at the valve on the exhaust manifold and didn't have anything but noise from it but again I am unsure how it is set up at the exhaust manifold because I figured i would have a lot of noise and straight exhaust coming out of it.

Please give me some tips on where to go from here.