i just put my Xe274 cam in my car. I get it running and broken in. I check the timing and it says that my initial timing is 40 degrees advanced on my new fluid damper "streetdamper". I try to retard the timing, but anything less the car won't start. So i figure if it runs like this i might as well test drive... Well, it just runs like crap. if you tap the gas slightly, the car starts jerking all over the place unless you get into it pretty good. Also, the car falls flat on its face past 4500 rpm which is not right with this camshaft. What the hell is wrong

 

Sounds like your damper has the mark for the 12:00 timing pointer, but you are reading it on the 1:30 timing pointer.

Ignore the mark and the numbers, they are completely useless no matter what since your motor isn't stock, and time it to where it runs the best. Then see where you need to go from there.

Odds are your carb is lean off-idle, depending on what cam you changed from and how your carb is set up, your vacuum could be a whole lot lower which will cause idle and every condition near it to be very lean.