Your engine has timing gears, no chain. If you want to change them, plan on pulling the cam out, its the only way to change the gear. Its a press fit and the gear has to be heated and pressed, the crank gear just slides on. You may have some wear in the teeth, but its not going to be enough to cause your problem.
Get a second timing light and try it, some lights can't pick up the signal at low RPM and can cause what you are describing.
See if you can find a adjustable timing light, they have a dial on the back, and then set total timing instead of static timing. At 2000 to 2500 rpm you want about 32 to 34 degrees of timing. Just set the dial to 32 or 34 and run the rpm up till the timing mark quits advancing (2050 rpm), then turn the distributor till the line on the balancer lines up with zero on the pointer. You don't have to worry about where it is at idle, what really matters is where the timing is set at driving rpm. It takes a couple of hands to set it this way, but its much more accurate and takes all the slop out to the timing system.
Have you set the points dwell to 32 degrees? You have to set the dwell before setting to timing. You must check it!!!!!
There is around 24 degrees of mechanical advance in the ignition system, add in the 6 to 8 degrees of static timing and you get 30 to 32 total. On top of that you can add on vacuum advance.
At ideal driving conditions, you can have as much as 55 degrees of timing!
Joe
