Gah, fuel leak
and its coming from the single most expensive part in the engine, the fuel distributor. Hopefully it can be rebuilt, if not, gonna have to replace the $2000 fuel distributor and retune the engine either way.
Good news is my 1/4 blind adjustment to the mixture made the car run infinitely better than before, but then i found the fuel leak, dripping from the distributor into the airbox, and then down onto the right engine head, spark plug, and exhaust manifold. So the car is back to being parked till the fire risk from the fuel leak can be resolved