she runs. thank you all very, very much for all the advice and patient support.
put the new starter on (summit mini starter 149$) and the engine cranks at least three times faster than it did, which was nice, and then I go back to troubleshooting with a clear head.
pulled off all the plug wires, and start installing them one at a time again. I have one of those laminated wiring diagrams with the firing order on it from www.classiccarwiring.com which has been very helpfull, by the way... I installed a wiring harnes out of another old dart using it
to make a long story shorter, I had misread the rotation direction. It says: 8cylinder firing order 273,318,340 (clockwise) 383,426,440 (counter-clockwise) 1,8,4,3,6,5,7,2
so, I saw 8cyl, then 318, then skipped to the bottom of the list to the firing order and read:"counter-clockwise, 1,8,4,3,6,5,7,2"
and wired up my plug wires counter clockwise..... ON MY SMALL BLOCK.
...which does not work
the moral of this story?
take your time, read things thoroughly, especially if you are an idiot, like me!
I'm sure I'll be on here again soon, with some stupid problem that you will all help me fix, but until then, I hope someone can benefit from this thread.
clockwise on small blocks, clockwise on small blocks, clockwise on small blocks.....
