Waking Up a Turd

I have a mopar performance distributor. the one with vacuum advance.
initial timing at 18 deg total at 34. Im trying to remember when it was all in, I think at 3100 or 3200. I never changed springs, just limited the centrifugal.
Ignition box is a FBO unit.

I had the distributor cap off this morning, and thought i would check how much play was in the timing chain. I had 9 deg of movement before the rotor started to turn. Not good. I did this once before, while i was initially getting the engine running, and i dont remember that much play. I wonder if it had the stock style timing set, with the nylon gears.

If cam timing is retarded because of the worn chain, That could be some of my lower cranking pressure issues, Not?

That's a little soft for a hot ignition curve. It should be all in by about 2500. Also small blocks generally perform best at "around" 36 total and "around" 20 "or so" initial. You are fairly close there but you could stand to be all in a good bit sooner. That along with the intake change and advancing the camshaft timing will help tremendously.