raycow - that was the ticket. When I had it running right a couple of days ago I had gone through all the steps
including taking the valve cover off and making sure I was on the ball on the #1 cylinder. I must have been on the #6 every time after because I methodically went through the steps this morning taking the valve cover off and ensuring I was on #1 and the truck starts, it's a little weak and not very smooth but it runs which is a huge improvement. I put in the new distributor today with a new set of points and bought a proper feeler gapper so I could make sure i had everything on the points as right as I could possibly get it (i.e. no guesstimates on my part).
pictures of the (mostly) successful install:
A followup question , I had the rear jacked up (for unrelated purposes) and when the truck was running and the gearshifter in neutral the driveshaft and the driver's side rear wheel was spinning very slowly. If I put in the clutch it stopped but just being in neutral it would spin. This doesn't seem normal to me; any thoughts?
Thank you all for your help with this and all my other noobie questions in the past, I love this place
