78 trans am rocker arms trouble

Hello, I’m working on my 78 Trans am. I replaced all the rocker studs. I tried to adjust the valves by placing piston 1 on tdc and going threw the whole process with the engine off. I then started it and it ran….but not well. I took it down the street just a little ways and it was chugging and idles really rough. It sounded like it was missing…
I then took the valve covers off and tried to adjust them while the engine was running. I lessened them till they chattered then put a quarter plus a little turn on them.
After doing that it didn’t run any better. I even tried a brake stand for a sec and it just killed it.
Any one know what may be the problem? I was thinking that it might just be a miss do to distributor or plugs…or the timing may just be retorted. I’m at a loss. A little help would be appreciated. Thanx

Did you remove the Distributor, if so did you line up the button with #1 plug wire with the #1 piston at top center on compression stroke ?