I did a mod I found online and the picture loses sync if I adjust the luma up to look good..
Which mod did you try?
Did you do this one?
http://saundby.com/atari7800mod/7800_vidmod_construction.html (http://saundby.com/atari7800mod/7800_vidmod_construction.html)
I did that one to my NTSC system and it looks amazing, but if you turn the luma way too high or too low it loses sync also. Maybe you just need to lower the resistor values a bit on the luma/chrome lines?
I'll have to look up which one I did again, but basically I ended up finding one which produced a slightly dark picture at best adjustment and settled with that, it wasnt my console so I was limited on time.