'72 no start

[Enginebuilder]

I've given up for the night, hoping that between now and morning something will change... Perhaps bright sunshine and a fresh perspective will fix the problem.

The Truck:
1972 fleet side, mostly original

The Motor:
GM 350 cu. in. crate motor installed last year (previous owner)
Offenhauser dual-plane high-rise intake
Holley 4bbl carb
what appears to be a no-name HEI Distributor
Accel 8mm spark plug wires

The Problem:
No start. No popping, no backfiring, no nothing.

This truck 'worked' 36 hours ago. In that time, I've rebuilt the carb, replaced spark plugs/wires, replaced the rear brakes, re-wired the turn signals, brake lights and running lights.

What I've done to *try* to get it to start:

• Gasoline through carb; figured that the carb, having just been rebuilt, would be empty of gas, so I opened the throttle and dumped a little gasoline in it. Nothing. (the carb is now FULL of gasoline, and the mechanical pump is pumping plenty of fuel)

• Brought cylinder #1 to TDC on compression stroke then realigned rotor to point directly at #1 spark tower. Nothing

• Hooked timing light to each and every spark plug wire, just to confirm spark; checked out okay.

• Went inside, drank a few beers, then went back at it- thinking it might have been flooded. Still no start.

• Loosened distributor and physically moved it in about 5* increments throughout its range of motion. Nothing...

At one point (prior to moving dist.) I got the motor to catch (by adding gas through the carb), but my helper had the pedal to the floor, and the linkage stuck- the motor raced like crazy (sounded great!) and then she killed it with the key. It has not started, or even attempted to start, since.

Prior to all of this, the motor was running like crap at idle; loping along like it had a top-fuel cam in it; the carb itself leaked gasoline like a sieve, and had a bunch of varnish in it. Needless to say, fuel mileage was atrocious.

This was 'supposed' to be a simple 'rebuild the carb, give it a tune-up, and put new brakes on it, and we'll be driving it around town by the weekend....

I'll be picking up a can of starting fluid in the morning, just to see if it will catch and start on that...

If you have *any* ideas on what I might have done wrong, don't hesitate to throw it out there.