68 dart 318 troubleshooting challenge

got home and messed around some more... jumpered the ballast resistor but it made no difference. I have isolated the ignition system by running the wire from the battery straight to the coil, so I can't see the ballast having an effect while the coil is getting 12 volts all the time, staight from the battery

I checked the rotor for the fifteenth time, it is pointing at the plug wire for cylinder #1 when that cylinder is at tdc and the harmonic balancer timing mark is lined up, so I know it is when that plug is supposed to fire.

I put my old carburator back on thinking maybe my new one got a chunk of something stuck in it somehwere... I have fuel pressure at the carb, the new fuel pump pumps when you crank it over, I have new fuel tank, sending unit, filter and line, I sprayed enough starter fluid in there to have it ignite out of the top of the carb, so I think spark must be pretty good...

I have to agree with redfish, it seems like if the timing chain has slipped, it should be backfiring, and at least trying to start...

do any of you think the starter relay, or the starter might have a short that is bleeding off power? I want to blame the resistor or the voltage regulator, but by hooking the coil directly to the battery, i can't see those bieng the problem...

I am going to be much more fun to be around when this thing is fixed, I can tell you that much