Ya gotta remember that these only had at Most from factory 8.5.1 compression.....that's NOT alot of compression. My 292 had 95 pounds in all cylinders and ran perfectly fine. Here's some general specs for setting timing:
8-10 degrees advanced No vaccum
20-25 degrees at idle with vacuum.
And no more than 38 degrees full load. You said you had it set 17 Btdc? That tells me 17 degrees retarded.....you should have it Advanced not retarded. Try 8 degrees advanced and see what happens. Heck I had my 292 at almost 16 degrees advanced with no problem because the compression was so low. With my new 292 I'll be starting at 8 without vacuum and tuning from there.
