Well here goes, I need to learn a few more things about using the recurve springs that came with my new Accel HEI billet dist. before I go messing around and really goofing up things. :-D The instructions are a 3x5 piece of paper one side only. GM spring listing is as follows:
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Color Start------Total -----> Curve Engine RPM

Gold 400 1600
Silver 600 2800
Black 600 4000

All curves are based on a 24* advance at the crankshaft. If the amount of advance is changed, curves will change.

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It also further states that with GM advance kits there is a sleeve which must be positioned on the advance stop pin located under the advance mechanism. I did not get the pin in the kit but I can get ahold of them and have them send one to me. I've never really tinkered with advance curves in the past and was wondering if I can expect to see any gains or losses in the mpg, hp or torque areas.

Ther is no science to it, trial and error. Seat of your pants is not the best way to get it set. Try to get to the drag strip for test and tune then change them out monitoring your et's. On mine I wound up using 1 gold and 1 silver to dial it in.

Oh yeah, recurving the distributor can make a significant difference. If you have a dial back timing lite it is pretty easy to do. You should shoot for 35-38 degrees total advance all in by 2400-2500 rpm. This would include about 10-12 degrees initial advance and about 25 degrees distributor advance. Disconnect the vacumn advance when testing. The vacumn advance (10-20 degrees) should come in only at high vacumn conditions (ie at highway speeds, low throttle opening). A small block Chevy engine could have over 50 degrees advance at highway speeds which will help fuel economy as long as there is no spark knock. Once you get the correct total advance you can play around with the initial timing with timed runs until you get the best performance. Generally speaking the most advance without spark knock will give you the best performance. Spark knock will be most noticeable in high gear and accelerating with a small throttle opening because you have the most advance with the leanest carburetor mixture. If you have an adjustable vacumn advance adjust it till the ping goes away otherwise you have to back off on the initial timing and/or the distributor centrifical advance.
Distributor timing is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to optimize your engine performance.

Fired off an email to Mr. Gasket concerning the sleeve. The reply I got was that the sleeve was already pressed on. The question I have is that the kit says to install it when using the springs, man someone has to be right on this one. Maybe later I'll mess with it. Thanks for the info.

The medium springs worked best for me.