Rebuilt 318 Refuses to Start

95dakotadude said

Also, going off of what Swinger posted above, my distributor rotor is NOT pointed at #1. The oil pump shaft doesn't sit in it correctly, and it's a PITA to try to re-situate it. So wherever the rotor sits, I just put the #1 plug there and continue the firing order around. That should work just fine, shouldn't it?

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When you get to TDC and the reluctor tooth is lined up with the blade in the reluctor (assuming you have the Mopar ignition), pull the cap and see if the rotor is pointing exactly at a distributor cover tower, and it is pointing between towers. If not, then you can have crossfire and other spark issues. This is one problem that can come up whenever the distributor is off a standard location.