Timing

67Dart273 said

You need to find out what the total is. THAT IS IMPORTANT. If it's too much you can damage the engine (break piston rings and lands) if it is not advancing or way short, you will be down on power and may run "hot". There is no reason nor should you even make assumptions about advance on old distributors. For all you know, it could have been recurved at some point

Click to expand...

I agree w this guy. He helped me w something been troubling me for a while. - throw another Thanks.

Stuff you are dealing with is old and no telling how many people had their hands in it.
Set total timing. - to something comfortable. * 32 before?
Check idle timing. If its less than 5* - you need a re-curve with more initial advance.
. And See how fast it starts to advance. Your springs may have been diddled with and timing is floating in the curve at an idle.