I finally got my damn engine running and I was messing with the timing again. With the vacuum advance hooked up it was about 20 degrees advanced. I plugged the vacuum to check the baseline and I could get it to fire up but not keep running it was so erratic.
It would blast wicked loud pops out the exhaust.
The only thing I could figure is that the burn was starting so late that when the exhaust valve opened it would let out a tremendous amount of energy still being releasing.
Does this make sense?

Also, the more I advanced the dist the better it ran and the faster it idled. It would also quiet down a lot when I advanced it up to about 35.
Should I advance it more since it idles better or leave it lower?