Gazz,
Is your carb clean/rebuilt? I think it would be worth it to take the carb off the truck and clean it out. If the fuel filter is full of junk, you might just have a lack of fuel.
Was the gas you were using old? Old gas sticks valves.
You might want to take the valve cover off, and turn the engine by hand to make sure the valves are moving, like baldybenny says.
Starting a gas engine with ether is a bit rough on it.
