Heres the story. I am trying to get my stock 307 back to pretty much factory specs. Used to have a 4 barrel on it but I decided to put the stock 2 barrel intake back on it along with a rebuilt Rochester 2-jet. I did opt for a HEI distributor about a year ago which made all the difference in the world. Now I've just finished adding, intake, carb, and distributor. I set the number 1 cyl to a few degrees before TDC (because it was impossible for me to get it on TDC). I set the rotor to point a bit before the #1 terminal thinking that the cyl would pick up the slack and reach TDC by the time the rotor point hit #1. It cranks and runs somewhat normal. I havent messed with the carb too much, just idle to pretty much time it up right. The timing seems to be at about 3 deg before TDC which is essentially where it was when the old 2barrel was on it. The problem is that when revving it from idle, the motor seems to sputter and maybe backfire through carb before hoppin up. Also, it takes a second or two for the advance to kick in according to the timing tab. I hear from the mufflers what sounds like the spark is not hitting some of the cylinders at the correct time. Its just an overall kinda sloppy idle that is not quite as smooth as it used to be. I know its sort of one of those deals that you have to see for yourself whats up, but I figured Id turn to some folks who were a little bit more inclined than myself. I'm not trying to build a race motor (obviously cause I still got the punk 307) All Im tryin to do is get my daily drivers idle smoothed out and for it to run as close to stock as possible. Thanks for any help you might have!

You did set it up with number 1 cylinder on TDC of the compression stroke didn't you? It is possible to install the distributor 180 degrees out of time, and this might be what you've done. You may need to remove the distributor and reinstall it after verifying that it's timed to number 1 when it's on the top of its compression stroke. Do this by removing the spark plug from number 1 cylinder, rotate the engine in its normal direction of rotation with your thumb held over the spark plug hole. When you feel the cylinder pressure pushing your thumb out of the hole, you're on the compression stroke. Then watch the timing marks and continue to rotate the crank until the pointer is on number 1. It helps to have a buddy give you a hand.

I kinda already did that. When I reinstalled the distributor, I set the #1 cyl several degrees before TDC because when you are checking compression by just "bumping" the motor, it is pretty much impossible to get #1 cyl on TDC. I retimmed the motor and it runs alright just really slack when you get on it like a couple of cylinders are lagging and not firing correctly, but the motor reads that the timing is correct.

Another question.... how do i go about tuning my carb once I finally have the motor timed back? Rochester 2barrel with 2 mixture screws at front of carb.

The various methods we use to install distributors is just to get the timing in the ballpark so you can start the engine. After that, you need to use a timing light. It almost sounds like you have too much initial advance, which will cause a rough idle. You've got to to get your hands on a timing light, because no one, and I mean absolutely no one, is good enough a mechanic to time an engine by ear.

As for the carb, that one's easy. Turn the idle mixture screws, one at a time, in the clockwise direction until the engine begins to stumble. Then back it out until the idle smoothes out. You can use a vacuum guage and set it to the highest reading, but this one you can do by simply listening to the idle, if you don't have a vacuum guage handy.