Replaced Head Gasket, now won't start

[RedDevil2n]

I have replaced the head gasket on a 1954 Chevy 6 cylinder, 235ci. Prior to the head gasket blowing, it was running fine. Sounded simple enough, replace the head gasket, get it back together, get her running.

I bought the truck in 1993 (16 years old) as a project to rebuild it with my dad. Unfortunately I left to serve in the Army before we finished it. He was fortunate enough to finish it with his dad though. Both my dad and gramps have passed away since the truck was finished, and I am now back home in Washington and have the truck with me. While driving it to my home I blew the head gasket.

So the reason for the story behind the truck is to highlight the fact that it was my dad and his dad that knew what they were doing. I don’t have the same skills as they did. So I’m really in the dark here, going off an original manual and google.

Here’s what I know now:

It does crank and turn over.
It does have fuel to the carb.
It does have power from the coil to the distributor
It does have power from the coil to the spark plugs
I replaced the coil, wires and plugs a year ago .
The battery is fully charged at 12.75 and meets the cold cranking amps for the battery.

I’m lost and need help!

Thanks

[dennislbrooks]

If you did not disturb the engine timing (remove or disturb the distributor or remove timing gear or camshaft) or the valve pushrod settings (just removed the rocker arm assembly and re-installed as was) and you have spark and fuel --should start if it ran before.

Does it try to fire up at all? Backfire, anything?

[RedDevil2n]

dennislbrooks.

You are correct. I did not do anything to the timing, distributor was never removed, and I never touched any of the gears.

It does try and fire up, and I believe it has backfired a time or two while I tired to start it, though the "backfire noise" came from the carb, not the tail pipe.

After I posted yesterday I went back out and was able to see that fuel was actually going through the carburetor, I had previously just made sure gas was coming out of the line at the fuel line/carb connection. So I know there isn't a clog in the carb itself.

Because the carb sits on the exhaust manifold. and the manifold had to be removed from the head, the manifold and the carb were the only two parts of the engine that was touched/moved other than the head itself. This makes me think it's something I did to the carb.