440 timing pinging and popping thru exaust

KAMSGTS440 said
I am assuming that once I put a digital timing light on it I can tell if the dist vacuum advance is working properly but I don't know how to tell if it is setup properly...can you tell me a brief synopsis of how I can tell if the curve is correct and how to properly adjust it or is that something best left to an expert since I have never torn down a dist just replaced them?

Just a guess, a stock distributor is going to have way too much mechanical advance in it if it's a reman from a store. You might get lucky, but I doubt it.

I wouldn't worry about vacuum advance at this point, it's the last piece of the puzzle.

Initial
Total 34-38 is usually a decent range for a BB in most cases
Curve - Springs
Vacuum

That's the way I do it.