How’s it supposed to be

Advancing the timing to 10-12 initial should help. You may have to limit mechanical advance. You can power time it until you detect pinging, then back off. If set to factory spec, it'll be sluggish.

What rear gear do you have? If in the high 2's you'll have to live with it. Good for mileage, bad for acceleration. Also automatic sucks some of the limited power you have available.