to-30 wont start

[esperanzadj]

I have an old TO-30 that has run faithfully for many many years. Recently, after being parked for a day it wuoldn't start. My brother in law charged the batter, added gas and pulled and checked the spark plugs. It still wouldn't start.

I'm not sure he put the plugs wires on correctly. There is spark at each plug but it won't fire, even with ether. I know the firing order but I don't know which position on the ditributer is for number 1 cylinder. I think I have it right. (1-3-4-2 counter clockwise)Facing the left side of the engine I have the wire at the 11 oclock position going to plug 1, 8 oclock going to 3, 5 oclock going to 4 and 2 o'clock going to 2. Is this correct?

Any other ideas?

 

[Jerry/MT]

The timing is 1-3-4-2 and it sounds like you have it right. Did you check the spark? It should be FAT AND BLUISH-WHITE, THE COLOR OF LIGHTNING.
If you have the requisite spark, do you have fuel to the carb?

 

[DS43812]

The firing order is 1-3-4-2 and the distributor does rotate counter clockwise, but it's best to static time the engine with the number one cylinder at TDC on the compression stroke, then remove the distributor cap to see which tower the rotary cap is pointing to. The problem is that the distributor can be rotated so that number one can be in almost any position so the only way to be certain is to check.