[dmjlambert]

When my gas gauge was not working, I went to the hardware store and bought a 1/4 inch 4 foot dowel and used it as a dipstick in the gas tank to check the fuel level every now and then. You have a lot of unknowns, just some basic checking of everything is needed, such as: are all your spark plugs in good condition and not fouled, are the spark plug wires connected well, are the spark plug wires in good condition and not burned up from being against the exhaust, are points in good condition, if you look down in the carburetor (with the engine off) and move the throttle do you see gas squirting into the carburetor (you should see it squirt), does the distributor turn freely by hand (as in it is loose and could have been turning on its own to affect the timing), does applying and removing vacuum to the distributor's vacuum advance can change the idle speed (it should), check the oil condition and oil level.