[Christ]

To answer your question about the liter engine pulling on hills, from what I remember, we always had to downshift into 4th in my friend's mom's Geo... It wasn't an XFi, though. On particularly steep ones, 3rd and high throttle were necessary.

After having driven your CRX, and thanks for the opportunity, I must note that it feels pretty well "broken in", as far as proper feel when on/off the accelerator. There doesn't seem to be any excessive lag in throttle application, and the pickup seemed smooth and accurate. That tachometer difference is a little disconcerting, but I'm sure it's something you could get used to.

You are, as you thought, losing a lot on the top end. I think that might have something to do with your timing adjustments, as you asked. The obvious skip doesn't seem to start until you're in the higher RPMs, or at least as I noted, so I might guess your ignition coil is breaking up under load, or you've got a plug not wanting to fire under higher load situations. Your distributor is salvage, did you clean or change the cap and rotor? Or clean the reluctor wheel? (Triggering device, may not be inside the dizzy on your engine, not sure specifically about the G10 motor.)