[corellian corvette]

Guys one thing to consider. If he has a stock distributor, with a stock vacuum advance, and is running 32deg all in and 14initial he could be running WAY overadvanced at cruise with vacuum advance. Stock GM Vacuum canisters put out 20 up to 40 degrees of timing depending on application. If you're going to performance-tune your distributor with 36 mechanical then you need the properly spec'd canister that puts out only 12-16 degrees of vacuum at cruise. You don't want to get over 52deg total timing.

Darth I'm sorry to go against the grain here, but my recommendation is to setup the car to the stock timing for tuning purposes while you try and sort out then problem. Your car should run fine at the manufacturers specs. Performance timing requires more than just bumping up total timing. At a minimum you should disconnect the vacuum advance if you're running that much mechanical. Vacuum advance is only necessary for mileage improvements, it does nothing for performance.