Car running like a three legged dog

That engine or any other will not run 180 degrees out of time. The rotor may have been pointing 180 degrees from where the book says it should be pointing and 180 degrees from the #1 plug wire in the distributor cap but it still could have been in perfect time. The wire that goes to the #1 spark plug can come out of any of the four holes in the distributor cap as long as the rotor is pointing to the right cylinder at the right time. I never worry myself about setting a distributor into the cam gear so that the rotor is pointing to the hole in the cap that is marked #1. I put the engine on top dead center of the #1 cylinder and then put the wire coming from that plug into the hole in the cap where the rotor is pointing and then place the remaining three wires around the cap according to the firing order and the direction of rotation of the rotor. Then finish by fine turning the ignition timing.
If the engine was blowing out the intake instead of sucking at the intake the problem was that an intake valve was remaining open on the compression stroke of the piston and forcing the air backwards out the intake.
If in fact the ignition was happening 180 out of time and the fuel was being ignited and blowing fire out the intake there is only two explanations for that. Either someone did you a trick on the wires on the distributor cap or the distributor drive gear is loose on the distributor shaft and you can rest assured that the same thing is in your future because it will move again and you will have either the same symptoms or the engine will fail to run at all no matter how you try to set the distributor timing.

check that the small carbon block that runs on the rotor button under the coil wire is in the distributor cap as they have a habit of getting loose and falling out
check for a crack in the area of the coil wire in the cap

if the car ran fine, before you removed the distributor from it and now it runs poorly, check timing with a light. sounds to me that its off.

that poor little engine 217ooo miles :( Compression check? carb cleaned? injector or carb jets ?

check the egr valve it mat be stuck closed ..... code PO404

take your distributar cap off and have somebody turn the car over while you see if the rotor moves if it doesnt move its the timing bet

It may be a plugged Cat Converter. They usually plug up at about that many miles. The check engine light will come on when that happens.
Try going to a auto parts store. They usually have a code checker to discover the problem in order to sell the parts to fix it. Try that first.

Its easy to set the distributor timming all you have to do is to aligne the crankshaft pully to the marks and see which cylinder is on firing or rather on power stroke you may hve to remove the vavle cover to get the correct cylinder at power stroke which will have the valves (inlet & exhaust )closed.
At the distributor cap removed check out the rotor as to where it is and thts your number one, since you know the firing order so from here you should be able to get the wiring of the distributor correct.
Good Luck.

It may be the O2 sensor. I know it's not the fuel filter, spark plugs, spark plug wires, Vehicle Speed Sensor, Dis. cap, or TCM.

It sounds like you may have an intake leaking. You've replaced the major components so now you need to look for a possible vacuum leaking. The intake gaskets is the easiest part to check. Get a can of brake clean. While the engine is running, spray the brake clean on the top center of the engine. The engine may idle up or idle down or may smooth out. Try this and see what you come up with. If this does not solve you problem, let me know and I will help you figure it out.