engine chuggin

That 318 doesn't still have it's original timing chain and nylon toothed cam sprocket?!?

They usually don't just slip one tooth when they fail. Rather the teeth on the cam sprocket all strip off and you end up with bent valves. But if your valve timing was one tooth late the engine would be a total slug.

I agree with the PV issue on the carb that's why I mentioned buying a vacuum gauge in my earlier post. You can't do squat to a Holley without one. A too low number PV will give you a part-mid throttle bog that you can "step through" that is, if you open the throttle more you'll drop the vacuum enough to open the PV and the engine will suddenly start making power. Annoying as heck in traffic.