Hey rattymatty, sounds like you're making progress!
Your description of the response off idle sounds lean. Mine does the same thing in winter till it warms up. If it it persists, may need to check some other things, like air bleeds, diaphrams, rubber manifold leaks, crossover tube leaks, needle jet/tower aerator holes and o-ring, flat floatbowl/body mating surface, enrichner leakage, just to name a couple. Seems like these bikes have graduated into the era of 'creative previous owner' syndrome. Check everything, expect the unexpected.
Your oil leak. If it's inside the cover, it's seal, outside, gasket/o-ring.
When you get the Pamco rotor off, you can easily check cam timing. With engine at TDC, the little index pin in the camshaft end will be vertical, up or down. We just want to be sure here...
