350/383 swapout

[76-C10Strokin]

I am brand new here and joined the site b-cuz it seems that people here are willing to share Knowledge and seem to be understanding. There also seem to be alot of Texas members. just a few details: I have a 1976 Chevy c10 L vin with 400 tranny, that I bought in September I think. Drove pretty well till the begining of november. Shifted a little late somtimes. It had a 350, the block, a piston, crank, were bad, I found a REALLY nice 383 stroker motor w/roller rockers, forged rotating assembly, blueprinted and balanced, but i cant confirm that b-cuz the machine shop is no longer doing business. new EVERYTHING Edelbrock carb and intake included, just used my old Accessories, Dizzy and wires, New NGK plugs, gaskets were new of course, and dropped her in everything seemed great, started up nice, we ran it a few minutes but we went back and readjusted the valves and then ran the cam at 15-25000 rpm for 20+ mins. FIRST Drive at first did not engage gears properly, I added more (lots more) tranny fluid, that seemed to help that, but it lacks power and shifts late, Heard what sounded like clicks in the tranny at first, (maybe from me readjusting the linkage?) but then sounded like backfiring around 30-40mph or in park at 3-4,000 rpms. the balancer does not have numbers on it only degree marks in one small section and a few other marks around it......After a bit of research... Ive got an idea how to try to mark it to check the timing just too cold the last couple days. other things im going to do, maybe bring the idle back down around where it was at first (750possibly before, 900now) going to put clamps on some of the vac lines that dont seem snug enough namely the vac advance on the HEI Dizzy. Current vac hookup, brake booster to the rear of the carb, PCV to front, port above throttle plate plugged, below throttle plate goes to the trans modulator. No A/C just Alt. and Power Steering. I hope this is not too confusing, Im sure Ive left somthing out, and i need to get this going very quick,and i been at it since mid-late november, so ne1 that can help thanks i will try to update often and check up very often. muthazbutta@hotmail.com 512-623-0979 HELP!!!!!!!! LOVE THE SITE and the fact that you guys have a squarebody club, I just joined. Tried to edit for Clarity. please, any questions just ask, i will try to answer.