stumped!

BillGrissom said
Try blocking off the fuel hose and spraying starter fluid down the carb throat (hold throttle open while spraying, then close). If your spark is close (say TDC to 30 deg ATDC), it should run on the starter fluid. You can keep giving it shots to keep it running. That would tell you if it is a fuel problem.

When you installed the cam, did you have the two dots closest together and on a line between the center of each sprocket? On a small block, the dots align when #6 cyl is at TDC compression. That confused me at first. Did your "timing set" have multiple keyways to choose from. If so, those can be confusing and the different dot symbols can be hard to distinguish.

it was a brand new timing chain and sprocket set. if i remember correctly we lined up the 2 dots. the dot on the crank sprocket being at the top, while the dot on the cam sprocket was at the bottom of the sprocket ( -) (- ) <---like this but vertical

67Dart273 said
Check the plugs for wet / fuel fouled. How "strong" is the spartk? Don't discount stupid easy to miss stuff like damaged / dirty cap / rotor or a bad coil wire.

a shot of fresh fuel down the carb throat should make it fire, unless the plugs are already fouled

You can estimate cam timing. Just look at the cam specs. One of the events is close to TDC, EG look them up in the shop manual, EG just picking random, the 318/340/360 specs out of the '72 shop manual, shows the intake valve opens at 10 /22 / 16 degress BTDC. You can EASILY check that, just pull the driver side valve cover, and crank it around. You can easily estimate 20BTC even if the balancer isn't marked, just mentally double the 10* markings

You can also set timing "on the starter." This might be a smart move.

will definitely try that. i dont know why i didnt think of that. id rather do that than pull the cam back out

Bad Sport said
Line the rotor up on #1 on the cap then look at the tab that drops into the distributor gear.

Are they pointing in the same direction?

Bad Sport said
After a little more digging, what I suspected the issue was, is what I thought.

The rotor and the spade where it drops into the distributor drive gear are clocked differently than a factory distributor.

You need to either move the distributor drive gear or the wires around the cap to make it run.

I would move the gear and keep the factory firing order on the cap correct, but either way will work.

i will try all of these things. where should the notch in the distributor gear be pointing at tdc? ive been messing with the gear in different directions.maybe i just need to experiment some more until i find the right place.