Problems With SN95 5.0L.... Please Help

[BowTie Eater 5 Liter]

here are the symptoms, when we first put the engine in the truck, it performed flawlessly(without o2 sensors, since they have been put in the engine has ran worse and worse) which led me to think the timing chain may have skipped a tooth, but others dont think it is the timing chain.
-Rough, inconsistant idle, it usually idles high, then will drop low, on the verge of stalling
-No Throttle Response when cold(and sometimes warm) if i give it any throttle, it hesitates, sometimes a "pop" from underhood is herd, like a backfire through the carb. this USUALLY goes away when the motor is warmed up
-Detonating(only happened once) temp gauge said it was a little over 190, running 87 octane, and it was detonating, so i let it cool down for a while.
-Seems like no fuel was getting to the motor this weekend out, it was on a bit of an angle, and it would not start(turned over, but did not fire) or when it did fire, it started, then automatically shut off after about 1-2 seconds. i thought it was no fuel, so i had a friend listen to the pump as i cycled the key, and he said it was turning on.
-when it is warm, it runs fairly well, sometimes it will be lagging a bit, then all of a sudden you can feel more power, without me pressing on the gas, it just picks up a bit from cruzing speed for no apparent reason.
-i can unplug the IAB valve, and the idle drops a bit if its idleing high, if it is at a normal idle, it doesnt affect the idle at all
it wont stay running if i unplug the spout connector
-under the dist. cap i found a burnt spot around the #1 lead, so i figure its a bad wire or plug(*resistance in there somewhere)

ive changed the iab valve, that did nothing, sprayed either to try to find a vaccum leak, nothing, changed the coil, nothing, changed the wire to the #1 cyl hoping that would do something, nothing.

i am going to do cap, wires and rotor this week hopefully, and set the engine timing to 10*btdc

i have no emmisions control stuff on this motor.

please let me know what you think it may be, or what to check, i really dont want to take it into a mechanic, but if i cant work these bugs out, its looking that way.

Thank you very much,
Kris