Tab,
I just went back and read page one, nowhere on page one do you mention that you messed with the dist cap and wires, it is all about valve adjustment?
Now, the facts are that it ran ok - then you adjusted the valves and cleaned the dist cap and removed the plug wires.
Since the valve adjustment will very unlikely cause it not to start or run we are back to wires and timing.
Plugs will not all fail all of a sudden after running well.
Compression will not all of a sudden fall and cause no starting.
Carburetors will not all of a sudden fail after running well if you didn't mess with it.
You probably had sooty plugs because the engine was new, you were driving in traffic or not very hard or your plug heat range is too cold or your air filter is clogged or a bunch of other things, however, none of these things would all of a sudden keep it from starting.
Your fuel pump could have failed but the starting fluid would have made it fire anyway. Same goes for stale fuel, but put fresh gas in the tank anyway.
This brings us back to the distributor cap and plug wires. You need to make absolutely sure you are at compression on #1 and the rotor is pointing at the correct tower which is the second one CCW from the notch in the cap I think. Then you need to make sure the wires are in the correct order in the correct direction.
You can turn the engine over by pulling on the fan blades with the plugs out. Just make sure you are turning it clockwise looking at the front.
And most importantly, get yourself a shop manual for the truck. All this stuff these guys have been telling you will be in this book, it is the best investment you will ever make.
