so, i could give you all the little dramas of my life, but i wont. just know i need my car running, and its points toward heaven if you help me. i recently broke down at a redlight while i was idling at about 750rpm. wasn't getting any spark, so i pulled off the distributor cap, and the end of the rotor had broken. i dont know if it broke at idle or when i pulled off the cap. but, after i destroyed the hall switch, thinking it was a piece of the rotor, i had to get a new distributor. the superiority of the new distributor over the old one lead me to believe that indeed, the rotor must have broken in operation. i got the car to idle, anywhere from 500 to 1200rpm. i can race the motor up to about 4000rpm, and then it will backfire, and choke back down to idle, and surge back up backfiring and stuff. but, i cant hold a steady rpm, anywhere but idle. if i say, try to hold 2000 rpm, it will just surge. but it idles strong at 1000. so what am i doing wrong? you would think after messing with the distributor for 10-12 hours straight, you would be able to set it. and the factory marks dont seem to have anything to do with the BTDC marks, or be particularly relevant to where the ATDC marks would be if it had them. could it be running lean? if it were running rich, i should be able to smell it all around the car, and there would be black smoke right? the only alterations that i have made, are intake and exhaust. both are pretty open... what must be thrown off? please help, i will respond too any questions you have as quick as possible, and give you like 8 gold stars. thanks! andy