Haven't been on the site for awhile, obviously. To update, I took the car to my engine builder. After putting new ignition parts in, timing was good, carbs good, it was still backfiring.
Finally checking the distributor itself, he found a small brass tab broken off inside the distributor itself, I seem to remember him saying it had something to do w/ the timing advance. Heand said it looked like someone had shoved a screw driver in. Needless to say I made a mistake going to the local "EXPERT".
Thanks all for the help
Live and learn...there's an expert in every garage