Timing/Ignition Issues

[rcassidy]

A few weeks back I had to replace my intake manifold gasket as there was a small leak at the front of the block. To do this I marked and pulled the dizzy and then reinstalled. I then proceeded to replace the front cover seal (I nicked it a few weeks prior) and then the water pump since that needs to come off to get to the seal. Let it sit for 24hr, filled with fluids and I go to fire her back up and voila timing issues I think. Good news is, no leaks ļ

The car won't keep timing. I start her up, get her to warm up and idle, set the timing to 18 advance at idle and she runs fine. There is some popping out the sidepipes while the engine warms up, but nothing drastic. Rev her a few times to engage the advance, let off the gas and goes back down to 18 at idle. Then once I shut the car off and start it back up, it goes to 8-10 advance at idle and doesn't idle well, dies most of the time. If I advance it back to 18 then shut off and restart I end up with very high timing (20's) at idle. So then I back her down to 18, shut her off and she¡¦ll start at 8-10 again. This goes back and forth and back and forth again and again. I'm completely stumped.

This is a 427w, Vic Jr Heads, Demon 750 Carb, MSD 6AL, MSD Pro Billet Dizzy, Blaster 2 coil. Let me know if you need more info on the motor.

I have so far done the following:

Checked ohms on all the spark plug wires - In MSD Spec
Checked ohms on the magnetic pickup - In MSD Spec
Re Dielectric grease the plugs/wires
Checked ohms on the Blaster Coil - In MSD Spec
Moved the MSD ground directly to the Block
Pulled the Dizzy to check for play and gear wear. 1/32 of an inch up and down play in the dizzy shaft - No gear wear
Changed Timing Lights
Changed Timing light 12v Source
Checked for crud on the dizzy contacts - None
Opened the rotor to check for burs or something on the advance springs/arms - All Ok
Added 5 gallons (to an already low 6-7 gallons) of fresh 93 octane fuel incase there was some bad fuel
Rerouted a couple wires per MSD's AWESOME (yeah right) tech support to help with possible RFI
Double checked TDC

The only item I haven¡¦t checked is to make sure my balancer is on there (Fluidamper balancer) with the key in the crank. I know it is, but triple checking never hurts.

So this is a VERY long post by now. Sorry, I'm just stumped and short of buying an entire new ignition system I thought I'd put this out to the CC group and see if there are any other ideas to try. There are less that 50hrs on All these components.

BTW the car is in the final assembly process so it's not registered, no seats, and the body isn't on so driving it around isn't really a good option if I could keep from doing that. I'd like to get this resolved prior to putting the body on if possible.

Thanks in advance for any help!!

Cheers,