Thanks for all the suggestions everyone. I'll start in on the rest of them when I get time this week.
I was using an 8ga ground wire from the head to the firewall so I wound up buying a braided ground strap and connected that from the head to a different spot on the firewall. So far the engine has fired up immediately the 3 times I've tried it but it did seem like the split second it was cranking was still slow. I'll recheck the timing. I think I'm at 10* initial but I could be off there. I'm starting to question the mark on the balancer. I'll reestablish TDC and go from there.