The plugs are gapped at .028 just as the manual reads. The plug was grayish white. No build up are splatters. There was however oil on the threads for all four plugs. Wasn't heavy by any means. Really light oil.

I'll pull the cap off and look in there. All of it's brand new. But they are cheap Advanced auto parts stuff.

I have never onced walked behind my truck while it was running. The tailpipe does exit on the driver's side. Have never seen smoke out the rearveiw mirror and when I washed the truck there is no bloack soot on the bumper or in the pipe. Looks really clean.

I'll also get a PVC. I think it was changed 2 years ago when I had the head rebuilt but can't remember?

Thanks guys!

I put a new cap on my rabbit one time and it was cracked within a week - new does not mean working or better sometimes. What happens is as the engine warms up moisture would leave the engine and condense in the cap until the cap warms up and burns off the moisture.

OK, stopped by the local auto parts store and bought a new fuel filter and PVC.

The old Filter looked old but was not the original as far as I could tell. I have the screw in style PVC and when I removed the old one I noticed a lack of thread sealant. Old one seemed fine but I could have had a small vacuum leak?

Anyhow, took it for a drive and MOST but not all of the hesitation was gone.

I came back home and hook the timing light back up. I had just set the idle and timing about 3 weeks ago and marked my distributor.

Timing was set at 8 degrees but after only 3 weeks it dropped down to 5 degrees!

Nothing had moved according to the marks I had made. So I reset it back up to 8.

The thing I have noticed was the pinging. Even at 5 degrees it pinged under acceleration.

My dad had rebuilt the head 2 years ago and said while he had the head off he cleaned all of the crud on the piston domes and intake runners and ports.

For the life of me I can not figure out why it's still pinging. The head was never even shaved? The machine shop said it was perfectly straight and only cleaned it up, changed the valves and machined the seats.

Should I try a higher octane or look for some other possible cause first?