Chevrolet Repair: 76 Chevy V8 pickup idles fine no power in gear, piston face, chevy v8

Question
Hi,

I have a 76' chevy pickup with a 350 V8, new HEI distributor cap, rotor, and coil, new AC Delco plugs set to .045 as the Haynes guide says for this ignition, new wires, new fuel filter(at the carb and tank).

It idles fine, revs up in park or neutral fine no hesitation, but when I put it in gear it has no power and the engine makes some knocking sounds. I checked all vacuum lines and the timing is good as I can get it without a timing gun and I still can't figure out why is has no power in gear. Also no hesitation when starting so I think the timing is correct or very near, I don't have a Timing Gun

Answer
Hey William,

 Sounds like you don't have the timing dead on.  Make sure your firing order is correct 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2 and bring #1 up to TDC on a compression stroke.  Lift the cap and make sure the rotor is pointing dead on the #1 cap tower.  Firm up the 9/16 distributor bolt so you can move the HEI distributor while it is running.
  Mark the position of the distributor and slowly turn it either way until you have no ping under load and adequate power.  It really shoud be set with a gun because excessive ping over time can cause problems like a hole in a piston or damaged components.  Ping is the sound a flame front makes when it collides with the piston face before it had a chance to get to TDC.

Wayne