Been battling issues with my truck, and have been down many rabbit holes. The upside is I have learned a ton and fixed a ton of stuff, but I'm still struggling to maintain 30 MPH in 4th gear with the original 230.

Led me to find a takeout engine locally, priced right. I looked it over and the guy says he's done messing with it, hes just putting a diesel in. I ask what his issue is with the motor and low and behold, it struggles to maintain speed in 4th.

For reference, both engines still have the original Holley carb, and have the civilian distributor swapped in, still running points, 12 volt converted. I haven't investigated as to whether or not he had the vacuum advance hooked up, but I've noticed little difference with or without in my testing. My carb was freshly rebuilt

Has anyone else fought this battle and actually won? I have a pertronix kit coming to eliminate the points, but I guess part of me is questioning the carb, so I bought a NOS carb kit as well. I'm wondering if the power valve in the carb is malfunctioning when the motor is lugging.

I have the stuff to swap the engine for a chevy v8 but I feel that its a disservice to this old truck.