HEI Upgrade but No Spark (kinda)

OK heres the deal. Have a 1960 Valiant with a 1965 225 swapped by parties unknown in the past. No idea when it was last running but it turns over no problem.
The problem is I can't get it to fire. I am not getting any spark at all. I am getting full battery voltage to both sides of the coil (a Ford coil from a Crown Vic with electronic ignition- have tried two plua the original coil).
I have followed the wiring diagrams I found online and have installed a single magnetic pickup dizzy in place of the points. Installed a solid state VR (tried two different ones) and have bypassed the ballast resistor.
The one odd thing I noticed is when I put a timing light on it I get no flashes while cranking but I get one solid flash when I release the key from start to run.
The car had no keys nor a ignition tumbler and hacked wiring so I did re-wire a junkyard tumbler and re-soldered new terminals in the wiring.
Does this sound like I reversed the start and run wires? Its a real pain to remove the dash and tumbler so I thought I would inquire here and see if this scenario sounds plausable or if anyone has more to add.
All parts installed have come from the vineyard if this helps.
P.S. sorry for the wall of text!