The timing was off by a bunch. When I replaced the front cover for the roller cam, I attached a timing tab that sits to the driver’s side of the H2O pump. The stock one was I’m guessing the sight tube behind the H2O pump.
I marked the balancer to the new timing tab position. By setting the engine to TDC on the #1 cylinder. I found that my initial timing was retarded by a lot. The vacuum advance had 20 degrees. The engine was running with slightly retarded timing or very little advance.
At higher engine speeds and low vacuum, I didn't have enough total timing, thus the surging problem. The engine was fighting against self.
I set the initial to 12 degrees advanced and checked the mechanical advance I had 36 total degrees with the vacuum advance disconnected. I connected the vacuum adv and took it for a spin. I was getting some pinging when transitioning from vacuum advance to strictly mechanical. I tried to adjust the vacuum can for less timing. It's stuck at 20 degrees. 56 degrees wasn't going to cut it.
I had to take some of the initial timing out to keep it from pinging. I'm at 26 degrees with vacuum advance connected. I'll order a new can and put this to rest. The engine does pull past 3K rpm now. In 3rd gear i got it up past 4k. I am guessing the Mph is close to 100.
