i hate my truck(not my chevy)

[arm51]

it seems that every time ive made progress on my ford it just backfires right in my face i finally had it running decent but it was just out of time so i figure no big deal it had a bad vacume but that was because of a previous owner cut the smog off so i removed the smog pump and all that goes with it and that made it alot better but i still couldnt get it timed just right so then i think that the timing chain jumped off so i pull everything out and bought a new chain and to my suprise there was just 2 gears, last week i was on the verge of getting my license back and runnin out of time so i had a buddy who knows alot more than me work on it and now it wont even start and i looked at the distributer and it didnt look so hot so i put a new distributer in new cap new plug wires and it still wont start, yeah i know its kinda a long story so bear with me here. every thing checks out fine the carb is gettin fuel its got a new fuel pump and filter when i try to start it its wantin to turn over but it just won't ive never messed with a distributer until now so i may be doin something wrong but i dont think that i am
it may need a new ignition coil but i dont have any help so i cant tell if its gettin a spark unless theres a way to find that out by myself so if someone has some advice it would greatly help

[cdowns]

do you have a service manual so you can go properly step by step to get it running?

[arm51]

yeah i got the all orignal manuals and i also got a chiltins and none of them really covers it in depth i must be missin something obvious

[cdowns]

when you stuck the dizzy was it at TDC on the compression stroke on #1cyl?

[arm51]

#1 cyclinder is tdc and the rotor is pointing to the #1

[cdowns]

there are two TDC's for each cylinder it needs to be TDC COMPRESSION STROKE

[arm51]

good news i think i may of figured out the problem need new coil wasnt gettin a spark

[arm51]

bad news i cant stand this. now even with the keys out it try's turnin and wont stop so now the positive cable is off and i dont know what to do next

[midnite]

the solenoid on your firewall or the one on the starter is stuck.... if you have someone that can put the cable on the batt then get ur self to a spot where you can tap not beat on but tap the starter with a hammer leave the key off connect the batt and give it a tap and see if it stops.... when you say its turning does it just turn the starter or does the motor turn over...?

[arm51]

it was the celonide it got fried and now shes almost road ready took it down some back roads and it does just fine in 3rd and 4th but its just the low gears and now its more in my reach
whats sad is that id go through all that again if i had to i just really started gettin into this hobby just recently
thanks for all the advice everyone

[dammitmitchell]

i have a 2001... i freaking hate it.. period