Won't stop missing!

[phish1270]

I have a '65 Barracuda that someone (I am sure he would not take credit) has put a '70-'74 318 into. The car is missing when I am driving down the road & the motor shakes quite noticeably when I hold the idle around 2000 rpms in park. I DO NOT have a timing tab so I am not able to tell anyone what the timing is set at. The car starts on the first turn, runs fine at idle, starts once it is hot & does not ping at all. I have replaced just about everything, new cap, rotor, points, condenser, plugs, wires, vacuum advance canister & carburetor. The vacuum advance that was on it would not hold any vacuum so I replaced it. It is an Edelbrock 650 with an electric choke. We adjusted the idle & mixture with a vacuum gauge & are getting around 19. The vacuum advance is hooked up to the timed port on the passenger's side of the carb. The motor runs perfect & smooth as glass with the vacuum advance unhooked & the port plugged. I really would prefer to use the vacuum advance especially with gas at almost $3. Any ideas? Could the timing cause this problem? As I said the motor does not ping & there are no issues with starting it once it is hot like you would normally have with bad timing. Could I loosen the distributor, turn it a bit & try it? I should be able to tell just revving it to around 2000 & seeing if it shakes. Could I just hold the revs up & turn the distributor to see if it will smooth out?

Will a switch to electronic ignition fix this? I have a buddy with a distributor, control module & voltage regulator that he said I can have; all I would need is a wiring harness & some instructions.

Every time I try to take this car anywhere but around the neighborhood something happens & it is really getting frustrating that I can not enjoy it.

I really appreciate any and all ideas, suggestions or advice. Thanks to everyone in advance.

 

[mopar head]

Knowing where your timeing is would help in tuneing. Ask here for a pointer, maybe somebody can hook you up. Plug your vac adv. and take it for a spin, see if stops shakeing/missing. If it does, maybe drawing to much advance.

 

[phish1270]

It smooths out like glass with the vacuum advance plugged.

 

[mullinax95]

I unhooked my vacuum advance years ago for the same reason ... plug it!

I don't have a timing mark either because of the early model timing cover and late model water pump ... no biggie. Make sure the motor is TDC, pop the distributor cap and make sure the rotor button is pointing to the #1 post, make a mark with a light color sharpie on the motor wherever the timing mark is located on the balancer. Mine is on the water pump inlet. I also installed timing tape on the balancer to insure where my timing is at.