I am having trouble setting the timing on my Nova's small block 350. I swapped the intake,carb, and heads and now having a very hard time setting the timing. I set it to what I thought was right, (8 B.TDC). It ran good but had a tough time starting once it was warm and had been running a while. I didnt like the combo anyway and changed out the intake and carb for another combo and now the thing barely runs. It will fire right up although wont idle on its own under 1000RPM and stalls when put in drive (the idle is smooth @ 900-1000). And there is a huge dead spot(it will cut out)between 800 and 1500 RPM if I mash the throttle. Once over 1500 it revs good but ther is a large lack of power from where it should be.When i go to set the timing, i cant disconect the vaccum tube from the dist. without the engine stalling.Motor consists of a SB350 (came out of a 75'impala w/HEI ignition), Acell super coil, crane fireball II cam, edelbrock performer RPM intake, holley 700CFM 4150 carb, double hump 1.94 heads with crane roller rockers.Any suggestions would help thanks.  

Not only do you not have enough timing but you have a serious mixture/carb issue. Timing won't contribute that much to a rough idle and it won't contribute at all to a flat spot under throttle unless the distributor's weights aren't moving, which I doubt is the case.

What exactly is a fireball II cam? Does the combo have enough compression and or stall converter to help this thing down low (if need be)? Is this a four-corner idle carb? Have you adjusted the idle mixture screws while monitoring idle engine vacuum?  

The reason that i think it is the timing is because before this Holley, I had an edelbrock 650 which the car ran great with until i rebuild the top end. then the same carb with no adjustments put back on and the car would barely start when the engine was warm. fired right up cold, ran good, (not great) but when the engine was warm it was like trying to start the car with a dead battery. I litteraly had to let the engine cool for about twenty to thirty min. then it would fire right up. the cooler, the better. I ripped off the intake and carb for the present combo and figured i would get the timing right the second time. that is where i am now. The crane cam is if i can remember correctly,(put it in about five years ago when i did the bottom end, this project is taking forever) 4.56/2.92. Crane no longer makes the fireball II.
I never changed the torque converter which is stock and was great before I did the heads/intake and carb.
No i havent adjusted the mixture screws. it idles only on the primaries. (its a double pumper). you think the carb too rich would make it stall when I unplug the vaccum tube?  

adding about two to four degrees of advance and going out 1.75 turns richer made a vast improvement. It definately was not too rich because the mixture screws were only one turn out. I leaned them all the way and brought them out 1.5 to start with. eventually making them 2.75 turns out and a little advance, helped a lot. the "dead spot" is still there if i mash the throttle though but not half as bad. it idles on its own at 600RPM when put in gear.so improvements are being made.I would still like to know for sure what my timing is supposed to be.  

hello i am having trouble setting my timing on my 1979 chevy k10 it was way out of time and i adjusted it and know it will not run i was wondering if it can be 180 degrees out of time and how would i get it set again so it will run  

hello i am having trouble setting my timing on my 1979 chevy k10 it was way out of time and i adjusted it and know it will not run i was wondering if it can be 180 degrees out of time and how would i get it set again so it will run