Messed with timing and floats...now it's missing. Possibly related?

[Wakko]

My car has always had a bad stumble on the low end and runs poorly at low RPM.  First I messed with the timing, that didn't help so I put it fairly close to where it was before.  Then I checked the floats and they were low.  I set the leven higher, but with the serious rockin' of the motor, I couldn't do it with precision.  It definitely woke up the bottom end, but now the car has a really bad miss.  I mean, 3000 RPM buckin' kinda miss. I'm thinking it's a burned wire (some of the boots are against the header, but are insulated with that thin silver stuff) because sometimes (rarely) the car will take off smooth and run fine for a couple fo seconds before missing again.  I gave a visual check to the wires, nothing seems burned and no visual sparking at night. 

Might the miss be fuel related?  I was going to start yanking wires and testing them.  They're new 8.5 Taylors, FYI.

[CFMopar]

I have 8.5 taylors and 2 of them burnt on me. Im going to try calling them and see if they will replace them for free. Accel did that when 2 of their wires got burnt.

[Wakko]

Do yours rub right up against the header?  Mine do.  I'm not sure if I have big tube headers or not.

[Chryco Psycho]

without being there it can be very hard to determine if it is a Fuel or ign problem , just start testing things to see if anything changes

[Wakko]

Would fuel cause a miss even at high RPM?  I only messed with the float level.

[Chryco Psycho]

it can if it is overly rich or lean
did you set timing at 3000 rpm or so like I told you ?

[Wakko]

No, I haven't played with the timing again.  I'm gonna slide by the speed shop and get one of those timing bands for the balancer and try again this week.  I also have no tach to judge the RPMs with.  It's frustrating trying to build a house when you don't know how to use a saw, ya know?

[CFMopar]

couple of plug wires are very very close to the headers...

Wakko buy a good timing light. Mine shows rpms and is adjustable so no need for tape. All for 130 Canadian. thats like 100 US. Sure you can find them cheaper to.

[Wakko]

That's a good idea.  Mine's just a generic 30 dollar one.  Served me well, but upgrade time.

[Chryco Psycho]

if ti si overadvancing at high RPM it will miss & Pop in the exhaust pipes

[Wakko]

Nah, it's normal sounding...but it bucks like crazy.  I have to either be accelerating or decelerating for it to be smooth.  If I stay at the same RPM, it bucks so bad the shifter bangs around in my hand.

[Chryco Psycho]

What color are the plugs

[Lostsheep]

Have you checked for vacume leaks?

[Wakko]

The plugs are fresh, I'll have to pull one and read it.  I've not found any vacuum leaks so far. 

[General_01]

How do you check for vacuum leaks? I usually spray starting fluid around the base of the carb while it is running. I do the same around the intake manifold. If the idle kicks up, than you have a leak.

[Wakko]

Well, my braindead self just proved once again that I'm MASTER of the OBVIOUS.  Yes, I still believe my float level is a little too high and hurting my engine performance, but on a while I checked my distributor cap and rotor today.  They were TOAST!  I never bothered checking it because it was freshly painted black (I didn't realize it was painted, thought it was just that new) and I figured that with a motor with 200 miles on it, it's GOTTA have a new cap/rotor!      Car's running better, but still about 70 percent, so tomorrow we'll try it again.

Sigh.