Help! Motor is freaking out on me...

[ShortBedChevy]

Hey, my truck has been siting in my garage for the last three weeks, i finally got the new valve covers and air cleaner with spacers on there... I started it last night, and it kept going border line dying.. It wouldnt die, but you could hear that it wanted too... The exhaust right on the passenger side headers seemed to sound "lumpy" as well.. What is the problem? This is the only V-8 i have been around, and i noticed after the 1 1/2 min of idling the headers were really hot.. Maybe they are usually that hot, but i pressed my finger on them and damn near lost my fingerprint... The new valve covers are edelbrocks, with a K&N Breather on the passenger side.. The truck is an A/C truck and i didn't have any plugs, so i just put a piece of tape on the vacuum thing for the a/c that went to the original air cleaner....
What is wrong with my motor? Could the air breather on the new valve covers cause this? please tell me that its something small... Its got 87 octane in the tank, but that has never affected it before... It just sounds real lumpy, especially on the passenger side, and almost wants to die... Could the spark plug wires be in the wrong order? if it could be.... how can you tell where #1 on the distributer is?
help!