bordin, If you are indeed young and inexperienced, that's not a big deal. Just add "and open to suggestions". You can set the timing by ear all day long, it means nothing, as was said. It does sound like you may have more than a simple timing issue, but that's an easy one to fix. The factory distributor will continue to advance way beyond 3000 rpm. In fact, it's barely coming in at that point. So ear timing is a load of BS. BEsides, the engine's not under any laod. How can you think that's the same as full throttle? That's like setting tire pressure by eye. Sure, you know it's got enough, but too much looks the same as just enough. If you have non performance parts in terms of ignition, then dont try using performance settings for specs. I suggest until you can learn, adn invest ina timing light, you pay a place to set the timing and carb for you. It will be less money that the fuel and misc crud you will start buying trying to fix a non issue.