Timing Issue

[saxman657]

Interesting situation. I had overheating issues which I'm sure led to a blown head gasket. Did some surgery: installed a new HC head with graphite head gasket, and a new heavy duty radiator. Since she was apart, I also replaced the chipped macerated timing gear with an aluminum timing gear, and a new ratchet nut on the crankshaft. Timing was fine before blowing the head gasket. With the new HC head, even though timing is solid and engine runs great at low idle through 50+mph, my timing stays at full retard position. Starts up right away and I never need to advance the timing through top speeds. When we put the new timing gear on, never could find a mark on the crankshaft gear, so we marked where the teeth came together and went off that. Timing gear issue? Distributor issue? Or is this normal with a HC Head? Doesn't seem right to me.

Appreciate any thoughts or ideas.