OK, so I built this new 402 engine on my back in the garage. I fired it for the first time and almost puked. It ran like total ass. In the old days, I would have played with the distributor and the carb and tried to dial it in. I would have failed and taken it apart to find out what is wrong.
Fast forward to the present. Computer controlled everything and the internet. I read (not the same as seeing it in person) a bunch about all the things that people said after firing a new engine. Some run and some don't. You need tunning software. Order the tuning software and try to solve all of your problems. I fought with it and read and asked questions and looked at how-to guides and learned and learned. I was actually able to get it to idle smooth and accelerate well. No snap crackle or pop anymore. It wasn't until I took a trip to the dyno that I realized that something was horribly wrong. Asked alot of questions and posted on different forums. I was told that my problem was mechanical and reluctanly pulled the front of the motor apart. It was then that I fianlly found my problem. The cam was one full tooth out. Holy shiit. This software actually allowed me to tune a cam out one tooth (I was told that is like 14* to 22* off) to were it felt "normal".
This explains some of the anomalies that I was seeing while tuning. I didn't get it back together until late last night so I hope to start scanning and tunning this evening. I can't wait.
Much props to the HP Tuner guys that can make software that is so adjustable that you can even cover up a major assembly error.