[Wade Chamberlain]

I would start w/ the piston stop/degree wheel idea to verify the timing pointer is correct or the balancer hasn't spun (assuming stock rubber mounted ring).

I'm very surprised you're not detonating. Might be a combination of alot of things that's saving you. Aluminum heads, high octane fuel, timing pulled out at high rpms, possible low compression, cam.

Just curious, what cam are you running? I'm building a .030-over 302 for mine w/ TFS Twisted Wedge heads and will be using the Trick-Flow Stage 1 cam.