'83Daytona

Hello all, I could use some suggestions if anyone has seen/had an issue like this before.

I have recently finished rebuilding my LG4 and have installed it into the car. Starts right up and idles great, however whenever I go to drive it, it's super sluggish and constantly backfires through the exhaust making it impossible to drive.
I first thought valve lash was set incorrectly so I redid all valves at 1/2 turn of lifter preload after zero lash just to verify it was done right. Same issue. No matter where I move the distributor (albeit advanced or retarded), it has the same issue as soon as the throttle is blipped, pop, bang out the exhaust. I have an aftermarket stage 2 E4ME quadrajet on it and have adjusted it to run either rich or lean and that still led to no change. I'm thinking it could possibly be an issue with the electronic advance with the distributor but I'm unsure and don't want to risk dumping money into something that isn't the problem. Plugs/wires are new as well.

Engine was rebuilt with the following;

-Block was decked/bored .030'' over at a local machine shop
-Replaced stock pistons and rings w/SpeedPro .030'' over flat tops and rings. Also polished crank and had new main/rod bearings clearenced and installed
-Comp cams XE-268H cam/lifter set with comp cams 1.6-1 ratio aluminum roller rockers
-W/P SR torquer 305 heads
-Edelbrock performer intake
-JET performance stage 2 e4me electronic Q-jet carb

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated! No issues like this were present before with the previous setup I had (stock bottom end with the same W/P heads, intake and carb with a crane cam, part number 113142).

427seven

These sort of things are next to impossible to advise about without being next to the engine. You will probably have to get a knowledgeable mechanic to look at it. When you get abnormal firing it's almost assuredly related to the ignition system, but there are so many variables that have to be examined. Was your balancer replaced with the build? Did you install the camshaft (and timing set)? Is this the same camshaft you had prior to the rebuild? Why are you using a 268 with 1.6's? Did you install the distributor? What firing order are you using? Check those ignition wires again and have someone else confirm....(re: firing order/correct placement)
Sometimes with small displacement near stock small blocks that then have performance equipment installed, the distributor has a very small sweet spot and it takes some fiddling to find it. Focus on the parts that were changed out to begin with....

Aviator857

Sounds like the distributor/wiring is 180 degrees out, make sure your number one wire is going to the number one cylinder and the rotor points to that wire at Top Dead Center on the compression stroke not the exhaust stroke. (ask me how I know... yea I've done that on a V6 that I bought from someone that had replaced the head gaskets but never finished the car years ago)

With a roller cam/lifters you should be ok, but if you had flap tappet the next thing I would suspect would be flattened cam. Either way I would drain the oil and change the filter and look in both for metal if you can't fin an answer else where.

'83Daytona

Went out and verified distributor timing to be correct. I feel like it wouldn't run at all if it were 180 degrees off...It would just give lots of popping and banging while cranking. Although I did find a few of the new plug wires to have been burnt and started arcing. I'm going to make new ones and re-route them to see if that works, that's definitely a problem!