Not enough Fire??

[Bsrob]

I recently got my freshly rebuilt 318 back in my car. I have it running. It use to be a single points distributer  system but i changed it over to this

http://www.skipwhiteperformance.com/detail.aspx?Item=6713-R 

My car is running "ok" it idles fine. It starts fine. I've had the timing in serveral different places seems to run fine around 0 but also runs at several other places but best around 0 or before top dead center. The throttle response isn't what it use to be and it will pop out the carb when u go for revving past half throttle. There is also a slight hesitation and thats usually when the pop or backfire occurs. I pulled some plugs yesterday and they were very black on the ends. i have a holley 4 barrel 600 cfm carb. I had someone look at it and say it was fine i just needed to get it out and run it and drive it some. But i refuse to believe that this is normal... Another friend is strongly saying that it isn't getting enough fire and i am feeling the same way about it.

Im not completely sure if I have the right distributer or something hooked up wrong. I was told to go get a voltage meter and go around and do some checks with it. Right now I have the HEI distributer in the link above and hooked it up to a new accel super stock coil. Got rid of ballest resistor and wired those wires together to complete the circuit. I have the + coil wire from the wiring harness to the + side of coil. And there is this ground wire from the old coil holder that i have grounding the coil. It has like a resistor or something on the end of it. I tried elminating that but the car doesn't fire at all with out it.

One last thing. The first time I  sat the distributer down in the motor was just to see if it was fitting right and when i picked it back up out of there the oil pump gear came with it. When i put it back i didn't get it back in there on the same teeth that it came off of. It was pointed slightly different. I wasn't sure if this affected the timing or not. I've had some people suggest it could be. But my rotor button is pointed at the #1 piston or cylinder when the car is one Top Dead Center on compression stroke.

Sorry for so much info but im stumped. Any ideas or suggestions or help would be much appreciated.

[flyinlow]

I am not familiar with your HEI distributor. However if by not enough fire you mean a  weak ignition system, think about when the ignition has to work hardest.
A cold engine start, sudden throttle opening and high rpm, WOT conditions. If this is when it is giving you problems you might check the spark. Pull the coil wire or a plug wire and put a cotter pin in the wire and see how far the spark will jump. In a garage (not bright sunlight so you can see it) it should be a health blue spark that can jump 1/2 " or more.  Dont get shocked.

When diagnosing an engine drivabilaty problem , start with the ignition and timing first. TDC seams a little late for the timing. Most Mopar engines I have played with seam to like at least 10* BTDC or more so long as the engine dose not detonate (ping) during acceleration.

As far as the drive gear, chevy and ford guys have to deal with that everytime they pull the distributor. If you are lined up #1 TDC, compression stroke and the rotor is pointed at the #1 terminal on the cap and it starts ,you should be good to go.

Black gas fouled plugs can be weak ignition,wrong timing or to rich mixture .

[Bsrob]

Hey thanks for your input. I forgot to mention that the distributer said i could gap my plugs at like 45 to 50. Not sure if that would help considering that i don't think im getting enough spark.