Technical Flathead Mallory YC distributor help needed!

I have a 47 coupe with an 8BA motor. Internals are pretty much stock, but it has a clay smith 284-2 duration cam and heads and a 2x2 intake. Sounds nasty, but won't run worth a damn. I will set the initial timing at what runs best on whichever day it is(it varies from day to day), and sometimes it will run OK, and other times it will pop, fart, have no power or throttle response. New points, condenser, cap, rotor and coil and it seems real tight inside. Anybody have any insight as to what could be wrong? I just want to drive this sucker and ive been messing with it for the past month and can't get it right. Thanks for the help.

 

This is a picture of the engine...

 

Have you used a vacuum gauge to see what the vacuum is doing while idling?

 

I haven't... What would that tell me do you think?

 

If there is an issueother than the distributor.