We put a bottle of metho down the petrol tank to get rid of any water, and it seems to have worked most of the time, but the coughing when the second barrel opens is still there.
We haven't tried timing or manifold vacuum, but when we swapped the engine we plugged a few hoses to get it running, meaning to sort them when I get a workshop manual for the XE. It ran terrible at first until I found the fitting for the servo was broken off and sucking air like crazy (it doesn't have a servo yet, but one is on the agenda. Discs work fine, just have to give them a shove).
I have found that it likes to run better when there is a little more air being sucked in, for example when one of the hoses is dissconnected, but I have not tried this on the road, just idling.
Which hoses are critical for good running? I have been told that the throttle nudger hoses fixed at the front of the motor are often removed. I have plugged a couple of hoses, including the ones to hte air cleaner, as the Falcon air cleaner would not fit, so I had to use a tiny one from Repco. I am going to rig up a EA air cleaner soon.