Sounds a heck of a lot like a timing problem to me!
First off -- Is your timing light any good? I've had a few go bad on me, and not read correctly. Always buy a good one with a digital advance on it. The other cheap ones suck, and only work for the first 10 flashes, lol
Second -- When you set your timing, make sure that you've got the engine at full operating temp, and that it is idling below 800 rpm to avoid any mechanical advance, and that the vac advance line has been pulled from the dizzy, and plugged off.
Third -- Set your timing to about 12 degrees before top dead center. GM tells you to set it to 8 stock, but that is very conservative. Infact, my 89 likes about 18 degrees advance at an idle, and runs poor / bogs when you try to accelerate with less.
This is where the whole tuning aspect comes in. 12 degrees is a very basic guideline. Every single engine is different, and has it's own little sweet spot. Set it to 12 degrees, and take it for a run if you can. See how she does. If she doesn't ping under hard acceleration up a hill, then advance her a degree or two, and do it again. You want to run as much timing as you can without it pinging.
Incase you don't know what pinging sounds like, imagine you have a marble in a tin can, and some little knome under the hood is shaking it for you. Sounds a bit like that, you'll also feel a great loss of power when it is pinging.
Fourth: How does your spark look? Take one of the spark plug wires off a plug, shove a screwdriver in the end, and position yourself in such a way that no part of you is touching the truck (that means no leaning against the fender up with your waist, trust me, you do NOT want to get shocked down there with 50 000 volts!! It hurts!) then hold the screwdriver about 1/4 - 1/2 away from a good clean ground source, and get a buddy to crank the engine. You should have a nice sharp blue spark. If it is kinda fuzzy, and orange or red, then you need a new coil.
Fifth: How sure are you of your wires being plugged in the right order? I can't tell you how many times I've mixed up 4 & 3 and 5 & 7!!
Sixth: How are your plug wires themselves? The more load you put on an engine, the higher the resistance to the spark going into the combustion chamber, and the harder it will try to sneak out of cracks in the plug wires. I've seen that cause your bogging problem many times!
Your dizzy being 180 would cause fireballs outta the carb, and there wouldn't be a chance of your truck starting at all
I should know, I stick the dizzy in backwards almost every single time I take one out... Infact, I did so yesterday! Twice in a row! lol
The carb shouldn't be causing the issues that you are having either. I can see how it'd be very tough to start in the cold without the choke, but after you get it fired up, you should be able to keep it revved up a bit without it dying. I ran my truck with no choke for a pretty long time during the middle of the winter.
That, and the carb most definitely will not cause a backfire. The only things that'll cause that is improperly set valves, (which could be the lash not set correct, a bent pushrod, collapsed lifter, or wiped out cam lobe) or timing.
First off -- Is your timing light any good? I've had a few go bad on me, and not read correctly. Always buy a good one with a digital advance on it. The other cheap ones suck, and only work for the first 10 flashes, lol
Second -- When you set your timing, make sure that you've got the engine at full operating temp, and that it is idling below 800 rpm to avoid any mechanical advance, and that the vac advance line has been pulled from the dizzy, and plugged off.
Third -- Set your timing to about 12 degrees before top dead center. GM tells you to set it to 8 stock, but that is very conservative. Infact, my 89 likes about 18 degrees advance at an idle, and runs poor / bogs when you try to accelerate with less.
This is where the whole tuning aspect comes in. 12 degrees is a very basic guideline. Every single engine is different, and has it's own little sweet spot. Set it to 12 degrees, and take it for a run if you can. See how she does. If she doesn't ping under hard acceleration up a hill, then advance her a degree or two, and do it again. You want to run as much timing as you can without it pinging.
Incase you don't know what pinging sounds like, imagine you have a marble in a tin can, and some little knome under the hood is shaking it for you. Sounds a bit like that, you'll also feel a great loss of power when it is pinging.
Fourth: How does your spark look? Take one of the spark plug wires off a plug, shove a screwdriver in the end, and position yourself in such a way that no part of you is touching the truck (that means no leaning against the fender up with your waist, trust me, you do NOT want to get shocked down there with 50 000 volts!! It hurts!) then hold the screwdriver about 1/4 - 1/2 away from a good clean ground source, and get a buddy to crank the engine. You should have a nice sharp blue spark. If it is kinda fuzzy, and orange or red, then you need a new coil.
Fifth: How sure are you of your wires being plugged in the right order? I can't tell you how many times I've mixed up 4 & 3 and 5 & 7!!
Sixth: How are your plug wires themselves? The more load you put on an engine, the higher the resistance to the spark going into the combustion chamber, and the harder it will try to sneak out of cracks in the plug wires. I've seen that cause your bogging problem many times!
Your dizzy being 180 would cause fireballs outta the carb, and there wouldn't be a chance of your truck starting at all
I should know, I stick the dizzy in backwards almost every single time I take one out... Infact, I did so yesterday! Twice in a row! lolThe carb shouldn't be causing the issues that you are having either. I can see how it'd be very tough to start in the cold without the choke, but after you get it fired up, you should be able to keep it revved up a bit without it dying. I ran my truck with no choke for a pretty long time during the middle of the winter.
That, and the carb most definitely will not cause a backfire. The only things that'll cause that is improperly set valves, (which could be the lash not set correct, a bent pushrod, collapsed lifter, or wiped out cam lobe) or timing.
