Ok, 83 350 with a Eddy 600 CFM 4 BBl w/intake and a very mild cam.
I got the engine running and pulling 16-16.5" of vac. No matter what I try I cannot get it above that, and it is still an unsteady idle.

Just replaced plugs, wires, cap, rotor. The old plugs showed rich but that was understandable as the motor sat all winter and I needed to re-adjust carb. The new ones look fine, little rich still but ok.

I got the timing set at 4* BTDC without vac line.
From everything I have thought of this thing should be shredding the tires, but it has absolutely NO POWER at all. When I parked it it was an absolute mule.

what am I missing here?

 

Your timing!! Thats WAY too low. Timing should be in the 8 to 16* BTDC range at idle w/o vac line on.

Most GM dist gives 18-22* of mech. advance.. Your goal is to shoot for a total timing of around 36*

so 36 - 20 = 16 so that means 16* BTDC w/o the vac line

 

well this is in a K1500, but the actual motor is a GTA TPI short block.
I hate books sometimes it kept saying 4* and I kept thinking that was low but... I mean hell...

Ok start there, will post tomorrow...
that is after I remove the front axle off my 96 jeep so I can pull the crank...
I hate small 4 bys sometimes...

 

Well I spun the dizzy till the idle got real good and smooth...
And it is not anywhere close to the timing tab, so it must be a tooth or two off. It is literally firing at the 12'o position.

So I get to deal with that tomorrow as well...

 

if you plug wires are 1 position off on the dist, you will have that effect

 

I reset them today when I installed new wires.

 

well I think I got it running about as strong as it is gonna run.
Thanks guys.