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Thanks! Yeah I am excited. This whole time I have been driving around in a 1988 Volvo 4 door. Automatic, all the grandma equipment. I am just about ready to shoot myself. Thank goodness for my motorcycle! Also I wanted to thank you Xray for all the very valuable information you offered earlier in this thread. I did everything you suggested and I don't think the engine would be running as well as it does now without your help! So thank you very much!

Finally after so many months of occasional work and constant head scratching, the problem turns out to be one wire. I bypassed the ballast resistor and she fired right up. Wow I feel dumb. A bit of research led to me discovering that there are two different coils. The 1.5 ohm needs the resistor, the 3 ohm does not. Why the old set up worked fine I may never know. Probably that the old coil did go bad, and that my new one is 3 ohm. Now if I can only get the water pump to seal.....

How does it run in general? Smoke or vapor from the exhaust? How do the plugs look?

Good choice I think too

No spare coil. I have installed some kind of aftermarket coil. I was told that it is oil filled and should not be installed horizontally the way the factory coil was. But I was also told that sometimes they go bad and sometimes they don't when installed that way. So it could be the coil is just not producing enough spark. I will order a new one and try that.

I am so happy to see that someone else got their car going! I hope to figure mine out soon. Here are the updates: Bought a compression tester today. #1 150psi #2 150psi #3 150psi #4 130psi #5 130psi #6 150psi. Bad head gasket. But the car should still fire up right? Even if it runs poorly 20psi down in two cyls. shouldn't be enough to keep the car from running right? I checked again for TDC today because it has been so long since I had worked on the car last. With the crank pulley mark @ 0 degrees the cyl. #1 cam lobes pointing up, the ignition rotor is here: I have spark. I checked and can see it jump the spark plug. Plus I got zapped. I have fuel. Spark plugs smell of gas and are a little wet. The carbs are freshly remanufactured from Z Therapy that where running perfect on the last motor. Checked for fuel mix with the adjustment knobs, to spec. I am out of ideas. Could I not have enough spark? Could my coil be bad? I have a pertronix setup, wired straight to the coil. Was running great on my last engine. Thanks for any help guys. I really hope I don't have to tow this car to a professional.

Maybe there is not enough juice from the battery to move the engine. It spins freely by hand, so the engine is not stuck. Are you hearing the starter solinoid click over? Check the fuse box to be sure there is nothing melted. Could just need the extra juice from a jump to get it to spin again. Or, look over the main power wires and look for signs of damage. Melted insulation and whatnot.

Ok guys, I went with Arne's method and verified that all is well with the ignition timing and cam timing. Everything lines up just like you all say it should. I tested spark with Arne's method as well, got it. I does look weak, but I don't have anything to compare it too. I am thinking that it is time for me to buy a compression tester. Fearing the worst at this point. Thanks so much for all the help so far guys.

How do I find this keyway? I can't see anything on the crank pulley that is obvious to me

Wait, I thought that when the cam lobes are pointing up in a V shape ( 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock ) and the rotor is pointing at the #1 cyl spark plug wire, that the crank pulley mark should be @ zero right? That is the way everything is now. And the piston is @ TDC as best as I can tell. I looked in the spark plug hole with a flash light and the piston is right there. You are saying that the crank pulley mark should be opposite the pointer then?

Wow thanks for all this guys. Really gives me a lot to work with! I don't have much history on this engine. I was told it came from a running car that was wrecked. I bought it from a really nice guy who had bought it from a friend and just wanted to have it as a spare. I have no idea if it was originally equipped with AC, but I am guessing yes because my timing marks are on the drivers side of the engine. I do no know if the head had been removed or the cam replaced. All I know is what I was told, and that being the motor ran well. I will go back out and verify that the piston is at TDC on the compression stroke, and compare the positions of the cam, crank pulley, crank keyway, and ignition rotor. Thanks so much! Get back you you all in a bit.