It is absolutely not 180 out and the firing order is not backwards. We've checked both of those things numerous times. I've had it 180 out before so I know what it does and when I set it 180 out it did exactly what it did the first time I had it 180 out (spit gas out the top of the carb and blew a cap off one of the vacuum ports). Plus I had my finger physically in the spark plug hole on the #1 cylinder, felt the air being pushed out the hole (so I know it was the compression stroke) and physically felt the piston at the top of the cylinder.
And we checked the firing order at least 5 times using the shop manual, instructions that came with the intake, the firing order that I found off the internet, and previous pictures of the engine (all of which were the same). Plus Dad turned the engine and I stuck my fingers in each spark plug hole to check for the piston/compression on each cylinder just to quadruple check the firing order.
Anyway, I ended up buying a new electronic ignition kit so I'm going to try replacing that and see if that does it.
-Chelle