Today I checked the timing again by removing the valve cover and verifying valve positions of #1 while at TDC. Then while turning over I set the timing to aout 4' BTDC with an inductive timing light. Previously it had been at about 4' ATDC. While turning over, we did notice the valve operation was a little erratic. Sometimes the rods would spin and sometimes not. Also, the valves seemed to not close the same amount each time. I was turning the engine over at app. 106 rpm and poured gas down the carb and still nothing. We put a generous amount of oil down in cylendar 1 and did compression test again. It went from 45 yesterday to just about 50 today. Bob Taylor above knows his old distrubutors. My engine is a 55 265 and the oil groove he mentioned above is exactly like what I have. The groove only goes part way around. Any way, we got one head off today. We got hung up drilling our an exhaust manifold bolt. Pictures of the valves are linked below.
http://s1178.photobucket.com/albums/x376/remohbill/
