I spent some time with the distributor yesterday. I'm back at square 1. Won't start.
Trouble shooting:
1) inspected the cap and rotor. Looks fine. (pics below).
2) turned the dist 1 tooth (clockwise), as suggested by some ppl as I had the cap way advanced to get the truck to run. Result: Won't start.
2) took my spare distributor, installed the spare dist cap on the current base. Result: Won't start.
3) installed the spare dist base + spare dist cap. Result: Won't start.
4) returned to the previous tooth position (counterclockwise) with the spare dist + spare cap. Result: Won't start.
Then I gave up for the day. I still suspect something is up with the spark. I had the timing light setup while trying to turn the engine over and it'd only flash some revolutions, not all.
I also checked a few vacuum things. I used my lungs to provide some vacuum. To the vacuum gauge, I was able to see ~9inches using my lungs. That was my baseline to compare with how much vacuum I could yield with other lines.
- The brake vacuum line, I could get ~4inches until it felt like a valve opened. Blowing (applying pressure), brake vacuum line was 100% sealed and would not take any air going in.
- The dist advance line took ~5inches of vacuum until it sounded like a diagram engaged.