HEI upgrade, wont start (no spark?)

Not bein a smartass (I know that's hard to believe) but why do you think you need to "upgrade" your ignition system? When I got my 64 Valiant back in January, I didn't even think of putting electronic ignition on the car. What it had was the original point type setup and it ran. I did however, replace the distributor and all ignition related parts with good new quality parts, simply for the sake of having new parts. Little car runs like a dream. A properly adjusted point type ignition in good shape will run every bit as good as any electronic variant. Although people will argue the point to death, it's true. If you see a difference when you "upgrade" to electronic ignition, then something was wrong with the point type. Most often, all you need is a good tune up and properly adjusted points and all is well.

Of course there are advantages to good electronic ignition kits with quality parts. Some do offer faster starting, but then, how big a darn hurry are you in? And of course there's the no parts contacting each other so it won't wear out thing. That's nice, but electronic parts do still fail.

What's your intended use for the car? I swear, if it's not 100% point$ drag racing on the strip all the time, and you're just wanting to drive on the street, save your money and stick with the points.

If you're bound and determined to dump the points, I highly recommend slantsixdan's post above detailing his GM HEI ignition conversion. If I ever decide to do mine, that's what I'll do. EXACTLY a she outlines, part numbers and all. I'll likely never do it though. I kinda like points.