Well this has gone on and on and on. No further ahead than before from what I'm reading. Now, I know jack squat about engines other than logic.
Obviously there are several issues at play here.
First, no fuel getting to the carb. That was the original question. So address that first, find out why. Should be easy. LOGIC tells me to pull the rubber hose off the inlet tube at the apron, attach a vacuum pump like for brake bleeding and see if it pulls gas into the container. If it does, there's gas that far at least. Of course the lines could be rusted on the inside as mine where, but that all can be addressed later. So, we have gas at the inlet to the pump. Great, we're on a roll! Our friend stated in answer to my question; was the pump installed correctly? Answer was "yes" and from the description, sounds like it was. ** After thought, open the gas cap in case the cap vent is plugged preventing the pump pulling fuel**
Second, I'd disconnect the electrics to the coil and ground the HT lead. Timing is NOT required at this point, so all we need is to crank the motor, a jump start switch is best for this rather than keep having to go to the ignition key. Crank the motor and gas should reach the carb. I'm not at all familiar with Edlebrock carbs, hate the look of the thing!, but I assume there is some sort of float level sight glass or screw (as in Holley carbs) If a plug, remove it and gas should come out of it once the fuel fills the bowl. If it does you got gas!! If it doesn't you got problems!! Find out why and fix it, can't be that hard to do.
Third, Once you have gas at the carb, now is the time to find out WHY it won't start. Backfire through the carb is surely timing or misfire. Side note; I just went through a similar issue with my car, thought I had a fuel issue, got me frustrated as hell, only to find I had a cracked and carbon tracked distributor cap. New cap, no more problems.
It is highly possible the timing is way off, you need to start from the beginning. Others have suggested what to do with sound advice imo. The first thing I'd do is make sure the cap is wired correctly and I'd also go buy NEW copper wound (not solid copper) over carbon spark plug wires , about 80 bucks. If the factory dist. is running points, switch to Pertronix Ignitor II AND matching Flamethrower coil, OR buy a DuraSpark distributor properly set up for your engine. If you have anything else, ditch it.
Okay, the cap is correctly wired and plugs are either cleaned or replaced. Bad or wrong plugs can also be an issue. I would put in a set of Autolite 24's for now. The rotor ought to be pointing roughly towards the #1 plug with the #1 piston at TDC, ignition stoke. If it's not, the distributor will need to be lifted and reset. Turn the rotor c/clockwise about 1/4 turn and reinstall the dist. making sure you get the oil pump drive in the hex in the shaft. When the dist, drops in, the rotor will move clockwise as the gear mesh. If the rotor is 180 off, you'll have to find the compression stroke on #1 then reset the distributor. Hope I got that right, I'm no expert as I said, BUT I have done this myself.
As mentioned, the timing mark on the damper should be about 6 -10 deg. before (or below) the pointer on the block #1 piston at near TDC. If it is I think it should fire.
Get it to fire up before attempting to go too far. Initial timing with an unmodified (re-curved) distributor I would start at 6 degrees BTDC. Mine is set at 14 deg. with a recurved factory dist. with 20 deg. on the crank for a total of 34 mechanical, plus 4-6* vacuum.
One step at a time, fuel to carb? Check, sparks in the right place?, check, then start it up, warm it up and make small adjustments. Once done, it'll purr like a kitten.
Geoff.
