Thanks for the tip on how to check the voltages Hotrod. Problem was two fold. #1 when it stopped starting the first time a bad coil was suspected. He was gonna buy a new distributor anyway so this pushed him to buy one. The one he bought had a bad pickup (off craigslist... prolly the reason it was for sale in the first place). It wouldn't fire in my truck. So he installed in his car after installing a new pickup and nostart. #2 really the only reason... bad gas, I tried some out of his lawn mower and it kicked right away. He had half a tank so we syphined off as much as we could, added a bottle of seafoam plus $20 bucks new gas now it runs like a million bucks. Thanks for all the helpful replies he is very happy now.
