PmL69

I have a 69 holiday Cutlass. Its pretty much a stock 350 except the HEI ignition someone has put in it. Last year when i bought the 69 i replaced the timeing chain. The car runs good now & has ALOT more power!! I also replaced the carb with a Holly 4160c carb(which i dont think i like) & i pulled a brand new distributor out of a 350 my brother(R.I.P) rebuilt. I know that he did something to the vacume advance to this distributor but no one seems to remember what..

My problem is when i get on it & it starts to wind out, it will start poping through the carb. This sounds like a timeing issue right? I have it set at 8btdc which thats what it calls for on a 69 BUT thats for points not HEI. I looked up the first full year for HEI (75) & seen that the timeing for a 75 should be 20btdc. I dont even think the marker on the crank has a 20 on it LOL.. Also could the vacume advance that my brother put on this distributor be effecting things. If i totally plug the vacume up on the advance & then run it it will not backfire through the carb & its a little lazy.
Am i on the right path? I would be greatfull for any input
THANKS
PML

American Lead

yeah sounds like timeing... a wee bit too far advanced if memory serves me correct...

Bluevista

I've read in other posts from the guys-in-the-know that it's possible that the outer ring on the balancer slipped on the rubber seperation piece and those timing marks are off. I have to check mine, been bugging me ever since I learned of it and the headaches it can cause.