Take it or leave it but this is what it sounds like is going on.
The ignition is early enough to kick back on the starter and make grinding noises.
Maybe not so much grinding as we would normally think grinding is, but enough to spin that starter gear enough to be described as grinding.
It was said that it puffed "smoke out the carb" so that tells us it's firing but too soon.
It was also said that it didn't do this before the distributor, AND that it doesn't make noises with the ignition disconnected.
If it were mine and doing that AND I was positive about the firing order I would turn that distributor about an inch clockwise and see what it does.
BTW, the base timing can be set with a timing light when only cranking it.:D
If this didn't happen with the old distributor and that was the only thing changed everything points toward too far advanced timing or wrong firing order.
