cant smoke the skins...problem??

I vote with moper on the compression test. Unless you had the block decked you are likely down around 8:1 compression with 9:1 advertised pistons. You just won't have enough cylinder pressure with that cam to make low end power.

When I built my 360 the stock pistons were about 0.070" in the whole and the compression height of the "9:1" Speed Pros I checked would have still have been around 0.040" in the hole. Even the Keith Black 10.5:1 pistons I used required about 0.015" off the deck to get them to zero deck. That with a typical 70cc sb open chamber head will only be 9.5:1.

FWIW, I am running a Comp XE268H cam with 10.5:1 compression with closed chamber magnum heads. This combo pulls extremely strong fron 1500-6000+ rpm. My problem is traction, I have to work at not spinning the tires when pulling away from a stop! :)

It's all in the compression.......... ;)