OK I've literally tried everything and this is my last resort.
There's is a loud knocking noise coming from my engine, it's not a piston as the engine is rebuilt and another reason I'll get to later. So I'm assuming is valve train related. So I thought maybe I gave it a little too much timing. I retarded the timing and boom it was gone. I took the car out and the b**ch had no throttle response and generally was a slug. So I either have no noise and a snail of a car or I have an auditable tick/knock but a burnout machine.
Please help to see if there's something I can do!

 

You mentioned a rebuild, did the rebuild include roller rockers? If so then the noise may be something you just deal with (as they are noisy no matter what).

 

Yeah theyre rollers, are flat tappet better?

 

properly set up, roller rockers are not noisy. how much compression do you have in your new engine? what kind of fuel are you running? you shouldn't need more than 12 degrees BTDC to run it. if its spark knock youre dealing with. you might try some higher octane fuel. I would take the valve covers off and verify all is properly set up