[colo]

Ok, got the engine started and I think I have the idle mix dialed in. I can't bring it down below 1500 rpm or it will load up and stall. I checked against my timing light and the TDC marker isn't showing up anywhere I can see from up top. The engine doesn't sound quite right, either, which makes me hesitate to run any longer than a half minute at a time.

I tried disconnecting the vacuum advance to see if maybe RPM was high enough it was adjusting but no change, still can't see the marker.

^^While I was writing the above I remembered that my timing light has an advance dial on the back. I went out and double-checked that it was set to "0". It was. Is started the engine after disconnecting the vacuum advance and capping the timed port on the carb. For fun I dialed up the advance on the timing gun to see if the TDC marker would appear. After turning the dial to 60, the maximum, I saw the line approach the ~14 degree advanced mark on the timing plate. Turning it past the end of the dial to 65 or 70 brought it to the 4 degree mark on the plate.

Can this really be true? I wouldn't think an engine would run that far out of time. It would explain a bit, though.