Well... Got off to a rocky start. The fuel pump wasn't pumping fuel through the in-line filter, so I finally traced the blockage to the carb. Seems the float was bent just enough to block the needle valve.
Then I found out that new batteries sometimes have to be charged beforehand, since I'm not using an alternator. And after all that? Not much. It sputters like it want's to fire, but something is off. I'm using an HEI distributor from SummitRacing that supposedly fits my engine, and I pulled a spark, which fired correctly. So I'm getting spark, fuel, compression and timing but it's not starting. I'm gonna tear the carb down tomorrow, and if that doesn't work I'll see if I can borrow a more accurate compression tester.
My father said the vacuum advance is fine being plugged, but he hasn't used HEI. Do I maybe need to hook that up? It sounds so close to starting that it makes my heart ache!
