Holy timing advance batman!

[CarbineReloaded]

Preface:
Picked up a "modded" 87 sam from a buddy of mine who had more projects then he knew what to do with.

Freshly rebuilt engine & valve job..
.20 over
weber carb
"torque cam" - he can't remember which brand.

After all the work, he can't get it to pass emissions..... it's fine under load but won't pass at idle.

I plan on switching to propane, just need to get a few things ironed out before hand

Problem:
It starts great, runs great -- what bothers me is that when checked with a timing light, it's off the chart for timing - I'm guessing 25-30 degrees of advance. He said the problem started after switching to the new cam, that he had to run a "shitload" of advance to get it to run properly, but that it doesn't ping or anything.

Any thoughts? I'm wondering if the distributer could be off a tooth?

[Kreep]

The previous owner of my Sammi had swapped in power steering. The two row crankshaft pulley was four bolt and had been redrilled with five to match the crank. You guessed it, the timing mark had been retarded about 8 degrees when the new holes were drilled.

I'm thinking even if the distributer is off a tooth, you are reading at the crank, so that's not the problem.