Customs 56 Chevy 265 cu in Tune Up Question

I bought a all original, oil bath air cleaner, old style generator, 56 Chev with 265 engine. Seemed sluggish so I pulled the plugs. Number 2 cylinder seemed a bit oil fouled, the other 7 seemed very good. The gaps were off, so I set them all to .35, Plug type AC 44-5. There is a steel vacum line going from the Distributor Diaphram to the 2 barrel carb with a 4 inch long rubber hose in the middle. I pinched the rubber hose closed with a small vice grip, put the timing light on it and found the timing line on the balancer was all the way down passed the timing tab a good 8 inches, scratched my head and abandoned the project until further thought. with engine running I set the 2 air screws on the carb, which brought the timing up to 8 or 9 hundred RPM. My Questions are. Do you time a 265 with the distributor diaphragm blocked off? and Where intell is the idle screw on the 2 barrel carb, all I see is the 2 air screws. Any input is appreciated

 

try disconnecting the vacuum hose. And it might be worth checking to see that the timing mark is actually at TDC.

Maybe if you post a few pictures of the carb from a few different angles, we could see what you're talking about on the idle adjustment screw, or lack thereof?

 

Jim is correct as usual.

Fir idle speed on a '56 Chebby you want to look at the linkage on the driver side, it will either be facing straight forward or be at about a 45 degree angle on the back side of the linkage near the carb throttle shaft. I have seen them both ways on tri five chebbys. It should be a straight slot screw with a substantial head (maybe knurled) and have a spring under the head of the screw.

or shoot us a pic like Jim suggested.