The downside of the barge...

Since you have been moving the distributor, check all of the primary wiring to be certain that nothing broke off. Test for ignition voltage at the coil (+) side. There should be about 9 volts there with the ignition on. If you have voltage, maybe try reinstalling the old coil to see if the spark returns.

Have you checked for timing chain play yet? If you can place a breaker bar on the crank damper bolt and rotate the crank a few degrees back and forth while watching the rotor, check to see if the rotor moves with minimal crank movement. If you can turn the crank a ways and the rotor doesn't move, then there is slack in the timing chain. The behavior that you described previously made me think that the chain may have slipped and the cam is out of time.

A compression test might be advisable also.

 

I would love to check for slack, but I cant get any tool (breaker bar, ratchet, wrench) where the crank is... on the underside I have frame in the way, other side I have fan and I'm guessing AC compressor? in the way... so unless I'm trying for the wrong pulley (one I'm trying to turn is at bottom of engine towards driver side) I'm at a loss there.
That's one problem I'm having trying to line the timing up to TDC, I bumped the starter and I have it on the compression stroke, and it's close as I'm going to get, without somehow being able to turn it manually to line it up.
I installed new points but that's when I got no sparky anywhere, not even at coil... tried old coil, no sparky... maybe there's a resistor that overheated? or maybe I don't have points properly tuned?
I'll check wires again.
I seem to be Charlie Brown...I have all his luck in this matter anyway.
RATS!

 

Grab the belts and yank hard to turn the engine, it really works sometimes. Those do have an ignition ballast resistor wire IIRC?, that would make no spark and screw things up if it was intermittent or finally blew out from cranking the engine so much.

 

The wires for the points and condensor--check to see that you correctly installed them. If you inadvertantly placed one or both connectors on the wrong side of the insulator, the points won't energize. If someone has a spare dizzy with points they can shoot pics of with the wires disconnected and connected, I think that would help.

 

I snapped a few pics from my Motor book in the hopes they'll help.

 

Now, basics to remember with points ignition: dwell must always be set before timing. This is because a change in dwell (point set wearing out) will make a change in timing by retarding it. So, make your initial setting with a matchbook cover (.016" thick), then use a dwell meter to adjust the points till the meter reads 30*. Then go ahead and check/set your base timing. Points ignition are maintenance-intensive, and will require a quick service/adjust at 5K miles, replacement at 10K miles. If you intend on this car driving a lot, you may want to consider swapping in a Pertronix unit and Flamethrower coil. I recommend the Pertronix II, as it has electronically-controlled dwell, whereas the I does not, it's a fixed dwell.

 

I've had good results with the later (77-78) Ford Duraspark systems also. These are easy enough to swap in. Best to replace the coil primary resistor wire with the later 1.1 Ohm version though.

Does the engine crank normally or erratically? Is the rotor turning while cranking it over?

 

Why are some people so... dumb, well not y'all, you fellas aren't dumb enough to do stupid things to your wagons.
Previous owner not only had the wiring off on the dist, improperly gapped plugs, and the timing off to get it all to run, but he had an undersized battery in it... a 24... requires a 27 in a big 460. Needless to say I got a bigger battery in it, spins up a bit faster now, and it fits in the battery bay.
I got spark at the coil and plugs, I don't have a dwell meter is there a way to set dwell without one? The unfortunate side to having a classic is parts stores look at you fun when you ask for things... that or I'm just dealing with kids...
Anyway with the bigger battery and the points set at the proper gap it coughed at me but hasn't started yet, I think I'm on the right track though.
I need to buy a dwell meter, and a working compression tester, one I borrowed was broken.

 

Like I said, use a matchbook cover, good for .016". Then, put your foot to the floor on the gas pedal and crank it. If you have liquid gasoline on the chamber walls and the valves, it can still quench your flame front. So if you do a clear flood (and a couple shots of starter fluid every few cranks helps), it may help it to eventually fire. Just make sure you don't crank more than one minute every ten, and keep the charger going so the battery doesn't go flat.

 

I GOT IT! It fired up! Haha haha
I started and ran for a moment at a really high rev till I told the wife to take her foot off the gas then it shut off...
Waited a minute and turned it over again, and the carb backfired a good flame and then it smoked on the driver side, popped the oil cap off and it had smoke in it lazily coming out.
I'm stopping for tonight, it's too dark to see anything.
But I got her to start! I'm not going crazy anymore!

 

Alright! Good for you! Now get that dwell meter and a timing light and get the ignition finished!

 

Like I said, use a match book cover,

Just don't burn the darned wagon up backfiring it. I believe we've all been thru buying something another owner "upgraded".
I owned a '49 Ford with a 302 that had the worse wiring system I've ever seen. They even used phone wire and house extension cord. Roughly every ten feet of wire had five guages and colors.

 

Congratulations!
Now get it running good so you can tear those pesky points out and install a Pertronix points eliminator and Blaster coil. Then you can open up those spark plug gaps a little and never worry about points or dwell again, , gaps not as big as they were though.
Pertronix also sells a new ignition power relay deal so you don't have to mess with the original wiring to run a 12 volt wire to the coil + terminal anymore.

 

That I didn't know. It would protect the ignition electrical switch (especially on really old cars) from overloading.

 

Well I finally got it to tdc and running, kind of sounds like a tractor... take foot off the gas and it stops running, but it starts right up.
I borrowed a really old dwell meter, just got to figure out how to work it...
So setting the dwell to 30 degrees, will that line it up for better timing to line up the rest? Not sure how that works but I'm trying to learn.
Anyway it's too hot to work on it now heats cooking my brain.