Here's to making this short.  I built a 355 for my buddy's truck.  Flat tops, world Sportsman II heads 64cc with 202/160 valves.  Crane cam 230/230 at .050 and .465 lift.  It has performer RPM manifold with Holley 750 vacuum secondary.  TCI 700R4 tranny with ATI 2600 stall and 4:10 Gears.  Truck made 295HP to the rear wheels.  It seemed like it was missing a bunch though.  After messing with it for a while, we found that the secondaries are never opening.  Also, engine pulls 15in vacuum at 1100RPM.  Engine also pings bad on 93 pump gas and only has 20 degrees total timing.  Tried everything from different distributor springs and weights, adjustable vacuum advance, vacuum secondary diaphram, all kinds of stuff.  Even went as far as sent the carb to Holley.  They bench tested it and said it is fine and the problem is then engine doesn't pull enough to open the secondaries.  I don't believe that.  This has been going on for about 4 months now and he is driving it like that.  Anyhow, I put on a 1050 dominator off my chevelle one day just for the hell of it.  Jetted it way down and truck made 360 to the wheels.  This was with all vaccuum disconnected from the distributor and about 30 degrees total timing.  There is a solution to this ????????????????  but I feel it may be beyond me.  I believe the reason the secondaries don't open is because of an ignition related problem that I don't see.  Any help would be great.  The truck runs great, no problems, but when I build an engine and tell the guy it will make 400 hp, then it needs to feel that way.  

Try to ignore the fact that it is a four barrel, disconnect the secondaries and tune first as a two barrel. If you cant get it running right as a two barrel the you'll never get it right as a four. When you say it was missing, was that at part throttle, or pedal to the metal? Does it have the correct power valve. If power valve is wrong for hg. it wont enrich the mixture. How do the plugs look after several full throttle runs?  JW.  

The engine does run fine.  It does not miss at all.  I stated the engine pings meaning pre-ignition.  Carb has 6.5" power valve which has no adverse affect on vacuum secondary function.  Plugs are also fine.  

Did you degree the cam & check balancer for any error in the timing marks? I have a similar engine in my camaro, the only differences being the cam & carburetor. I have my intial timing set at 20 degrees & have no sign of detenation.  

yes I did degree the cam.  The initial thought was the outer ring spun on the balancer so we bought a new one and still have the same problem.  Thanks for everyone's thoughts and suggestions.  Keep them coming.  

Im well aware that pinging is pre-ignition, which can be caused by timing overly advanced, low octane fuel, or an overly lean fuel mixture. That is why I asked how the plugs looked after full throttle runs. You did not say if the engine was pinging with the Dominator when you tried it. Could also be a mis-indexed balancer.  

Engine does not run lean and the plugs look fine.  The engine made 10:1 AFR with a wideband with the dominator on.  Did not ping with that carb on.  With this one, engine runs a bit lean at WOT but not too bad.  The engine now has a TCI balance on it.  Brand new.