New build not starting

[Sonny]

165 is great on the compression. My build is almost the same as yours and thats the number I get. How about the rest of your cylinders?

Obviously I chose the easy two spark plugs! Those Hedman headers on a 440 doesn’t leave much room for a spark plug removal. I’m going to wait and get the new distributor on Tuesday and try that out before having to fight those other six spark plugs.

 

[miller]

Compression is good!
Something I wound up doing, on that mentioned 383 build (lot's of head-banging!), knowing new is new, right?
Past the distributor itself...plugs and plug wires. I checked each plug/wire to see what kind of spark I was getting. Should be crisp bright white. On the bad/cracked plugs, got a weak spark. Down the road, after replacing all plugs, also discovered my plug wires were crap, too.

Too easy to trust something, that's new, doing what it's supposed to do.

 

[Billccm]

What was the fix?