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Hmmm but I would need at least 69 pony's to get back to the standard 69 Horse power....

Perhaps if I used clydesdales...

What were the things for checking for a cracked head gasket again?

Lobster - check the dizzy advance mechanism, its located below the points in the dizzy. They can wear out or be full of crap, have broken springs etc and wont advance properly, could account for you not having any power up top and backfiring on throttle liftoff.

In my experience when the head gasket is stuffed your dato tends to sound like a VW(what a great sound that is!!) but you can do a simple check by taking off the filler cap and have a look at the oil. First have a look at the bottom of the cap if you notice that there is a milky white sustance on the cap then you have a blown head gasket,Also check your radiator and your oil to see if any cross contamination has taken place. Speaking from expirence one of my datos had the same diagnosis as your describing, and after many sleepless nights and many episodes of throwing tools around the shed i discovered it was a combination of problems that compounded to make it run like crap,The only thing i can suggest is give it a major service(plugs,points,leads etc) and if that doesn't work i'd recomend get a mechanic to look at it, and get them to tell you what their opion is,after all its pretty difficult to give advice when you can't see the problem.

do a compression test on each pot to c ir the oil rings are leaking. that could account for smoke and some loss of power. Are you sure its not running to rich? check timing as well.

The troubleshooting section of the manual is VERY helpfull & you should be able to diagnose your problem lickety split..
You DO have a manual don't you?

With my litle experience i think it's your valves.
Did you push and lower your head?
If you did it without putting stronger valve springs you have fire behind your ass, because the exhaust valve is still open for millisec when the intake valce opens to fill with gas.So some of your gas getting away through your pipe.
Now about the smoke i think it's the gaskets.

(sorry about my english)

Thankyou all for your help. I am gonna be doing a lot of chekcing tomorrow morning...
Will definately check for the fire behind my ass.

a quick check would be look underya oil filler cap see if it has white foamy crap on it if so yall gonna need to do the head

Hmmmm... No foamy stuff in oil and no oil in radiator...

have you got access to a compression tester?