idle great, high speed rough and hesitating

[polehook]

i have a 1976 cj5, 258 that did not idle so i rebuilt the carb and now the idle is great but the high speed in hesitating and sometime backfiring and has no power. i replaced all the plugs, wires ignition box on the fender. i marked the firing order befor i took it apart and then tried to make it the right way but then it would not even start so i put it back the way it was when i bought it. but it is not standard. is it possiable that whoever worked on it before has the distridutor in wrong? do i have to start over from square one? the lock down tabs on the distributor cap are about 90 degrees off from the way it shows it on a firing order chart. i set the timing and at idle it is so smooth you can't hardly tell it's running but when i try to rev it up it hesitates and sometimes backfires, i think in the exhaust. HELP

 

[kc jones]

You should be able to set #1 piston at top dead center (on the compression stroke) and the rotor should be pointed at the# 1 plug wire on the distibutor cap. If it is not you will need to re stab the distributor.