74 Duster (318) cranks, but no start. Need help.

Alright, so I tried the Hotwire and got a gunshot backfire out of the carb. Also got a spark tester and I'm not seeing spark from the wire going from the coil to distributor or any wires going from the distributor to the cylinders. The wires are a cheap set, but they are new.

When I first got the car, I tried starting it myself and it didn't start so I had a mechanic come out and he said the timing was 180 degrees out, and he got it to fire up in just an hour of looking at it. It's doing that same **** now too--the backfiring through the carb, etc. Can a car just magically jump timing? I did take out the distributor to tighten up the pickup coil because it was wobbly, but I marked the distributor and rotor and put them back in as they came out. Could I rotate the rotor and see if turning it 180 degrees will get it to fire up without hurting anything?

Also the voltage value at the coil is still about 4.6v. The blue wire coming out of the ignition switch to the ballast is 9.5v. Resistor also got really hot on top (between the brown and blue wires) with the key in the ON position.

Don't know if any of this helps y'all help me diagnose the problem better.