I puttered a bit more. Since I was back to where I was before, I took the injection pump back off, and took out one of those 3 gaskets I made. Just looking for any change. If I recall, each one was supposed to be worth 4 or 5 degrees? Anyway. It started pretty quickly, and now I’m running up to 1800, where 1500 was the limit last time, and full throttle seems smooth and no smoke. I think I could get 2000 out of it if I wanted, so I might take out more, I haven’t decided yet. But bottom line is, my issue did seem to be related to timing. What’s odd to me is that, assuming I have advanced timing 5 degrees and made it run better. How did the timing work before? How did that engine ever get to full rpm? Maybe it never did, I’ll probably never know.
I did notice a bit more clatter and engine noise at idle, but otherwise the engine seems a lot smoother. I’m calling this one a win! Thanks Maverick and Pumpguy for your help with this. MUCH appreciated!