Thinking of an air-fuel meter to tune carb - any experience?

[lippy]

I recently finished my car and got it on the road. I've had a few issues, nothing major. Next up, I need to optimize the tune. Brent tuned it on a dyno, but mentioned the fuel and atmosphere could be significantly different in Kentucky (where he is) vs NoCal (where I am).

There is just one shop here of which I'm aware that tunes carbs - Ole's in Redwood City). They are supposed to be very good and work on a lot of rods, but they clearly are old-school. I think they just do it by ear and experience.

I'm thinking it may make sense for me to buy a wideband O2 meter or gauge and tackle this myself. That way I could use it on both of my carb'd cars, learn how to do this right, and make sure the car isn't running too lean or rich.

Innovate Motorsports seems to be the leader in this area, and they have handhelds and gauges (cheaper, and sort of cool to see it in real-time). But one issue I have is that I didn't weld in an O2 bung when I put the car together, so I would either have to do this (and recoat the ceramic wherever I weld it), or use their clamp on the exit of the sidepipe (probably adequate and easier).

My questions are: what do you think of tuning it myself with one of these set-ups? Any experience would be appreciated - especially whether you could get the tune right pretty easily or if air-fuel meters are a rat hole. Also, what gear have you used successfully? Thanks!