Was the 49 running before?

On my 47 jeep, the valves were stuck and had to be freed up before they went up and down. But...the jeep still didn't start until we touched up the choke. Then it fired up and ran great. Our choke wasn't hooked up.

Have you tried starting fluid (ether) ?

You could take the valve cover off and spin it up and see if the valves are going up and down.